Perceived stress and well-being in doctoral students: effects on program satisfaction and intention to quit

Stress is a common negative emotion in students. Given the stress associated with doctoral studies, it is crucial to examine the influence of stress on well-being, program satisfaction, and retention in doctoral programs. This study examined stress-related issues and their relationships with intention to quit in a sample of 2,486 students enrolled in doctoral programs representing 38 disciplines. Participants completed a web-based questionnaire including sociodemographic and self-report measures assessing perceived stress, emotional, social, and psychological well-being, as well as program satisfaction and intention to quit. We tested three hypotheses based on Lazarus and Folkman's transactional theory of stress and emotions and Nunez-Regueiro's stress process model of school dropout. The results of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) supported the hypotheses of the study and showed that perceived stress is negatively associated with emotional, social, and psychological well-being. The most significant finding from this study is that perceived stress, directly and indirectly contributes to lower program satisfaction in doctoral students and a stronger intention to quit. These study findings underscore the need for departments to actively support students in completing their dissertations by establishing explicit expectation norms.