Changes in basic psychological needs, passion, and well-being of first-semester graduate students

Minoritized graduate student identity, well-being, and mental health risks for suicidality.

“…Last, as previous research has highlighted that symptoms of depression and need frustration may vary over time, future research should continue to use a longitudinal design to assess for differences in need frustration, stress, anxiety, depression, and suicide risk throughout the academic year and as graduate students matriculate in their degree programs (Levine et al, 2022). This will help identify which factors are specifically the result of the graduate environment and which may be preexisting or independent of the graduate environment (Appleseth et al, 2023).…”

“…Although previous research has shed light on the burden of poor mental health among graduate students, very little is known about modifiable factors that can improve the graduate learning environment. Namely, research has suggested that exploring the basic psychological needs of graduate students may be an important factor in understanding vitality as well as psychological distress in the context of academia (Appleseth et al, 2023; Levine et al, 2022).…”

“…Levine et al (2022) found that among undergraduate and graduate students, need frustration consistently predicted depressive symptoms over the academic year, particularly during vulnerable time periods. Another recent study observed that graduate students in their first semester reported decreased need satisfaction, lower positive affect, lower quality of life, increased anxious and depressive symptoms, increased physical symptoms (e.g., back pain, headaches, nausea), and increased need frustration across the semester (Appleseth et al, 2023). Further, social and structural inequities (e.g., limited access to resources due to oppression), often experienced by minoritized communities, are associated with increased need frustration and decreased psychological well-being among adults (Bradshaw et al, 2023).…”

A study on the influence of academic passion on PhD students’ research engagement—The role of ambidextrous learning and academic climate

“…Academic passion positively predicts students' academic functioning, affecting learning engagement and resulting in positive academic outcomes [26]. Existing research has mostly focused on the impact of academic passion on academic outcomes and its antecedents [27,28], overlooking the consideration of psychological need satisfaction on doctoral students' research engagement. Therefore, applying SDT in this study not only fills the research gap on the mechanism of influence of doctoral students' academic passion on research engagement but also provides a novel perspective to understand and promote sustained participation of doctoral students in scientific activities.…”

Community Cultural Wealth from an Engineering and Science Education Department

“…Graduate students rely on the social capitals they bring to their departments as well as supports provided to them to succeed in their education. [10] Within Clemson University's Engineering and Science Education Department (ESED), a semi-formal space called Lunch and Learn (L&L) was created to provide support to graduate students. We describe the strengths and supports that ESED graduate students bring and find in the L&L space to address the following research questions:…”