Socio-Demographic Determinants of Depressive Symptoms among PhD Scholars: Evidence from Government College University Faisalabad

Abstract

The prevalence of depression symptoms among PhD students is a growing concern these days due to several risk factors such as prolonged research work, academic stress, financial instability, and professional uncertainty. The current study was conducted to assess the socio-demographic and academic factors of depression among ninety PhD students at Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF). A quantitative survey was conducted that consisted of demographic, sociological, and PHQ-9 questions. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics including the Chi-square test, Gamma and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The survey results revealed that 72.2% of participants suffer from mild, moderate, or severe depression. Financial problems, a short deadline for submission, and the pressure of studies were found to be significant predictors of depression with a mean of 3.96, 3.92, and 3.87, respectively. The study further revealed that 55.9% of the total variation in depression was predicted by the selected independent variables (R 2 =. 559, p<.001). The analysis revealed that age, marital status, employment status, and monthly income predicted depression, while gender was not a significant predictor. The study’s results emphasize the role of socio-economic and academic factors on the well-being of students at the doctoral level.