焦虑比例高于常人六倍——研究生心理问题

There is a mental health crisis in graduate education, and research institutions need to take action to address it.

研究生教育中存在着心理健康危机，研究机构需要对此采取措施。

That’s the take-home message from a global survey of Ph.D. and master's students published today, which adds to the meager but growing literature on the subject and corroborates anecdotal evidence and discussion about the topic from recent years, including a number of personal tragedies and numerous testimonials and concerns expressed on social media and elsewhere.

这是一份今天发布的硕博 研究生全球调查表的关键信息，近年来与这一主题相关或者能够证实零散证据和讨论的文献还比较少，不过正在迅速增加，这些证据包括很多个人悲剧，还有很多社交媒体和其他平台上传播的反馈和担忧。

The new results “hopefully [add] to a conversation that might … result in a cultural change,” says co-author Teresa Evans, a career development office director and lecturer at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.

新的结果“可以促进各方对话...也许能够带来一次文化变革”，共同作者特蕾莎.伊万斯说，她是位于圣安东尼的德克萨斯州立大学的健康科学中心的事业规划办公室的主任和讲师。

The new online survey data—2279 responses, mostly from Ph.D. candidates based in 234 institutions across 26 countries, 40% of whom are in the biological and physical sciences and engineering—unveil “strikingly high rates of anxiety and depression” among the graduate population, the authors write in the Nature Biotechnology paper.

最新的网上调查数据—2279份问卷，大多来自26个公家的234所高校的博士在读研究生，其中40%学习的是生物，物理科学和工程—显示在研究生群体中存在“比例高得惊人的焦虑和抑郁”，作者在《自然生物技术报》上发表了结果。

Based on clinically validated questionnaires, 41% of respondents showed moderate to severe anxiety and 39% moderate to severe depression, both of which are more than six times the prevalence found in studies of the general population.

基于临床验证的问卷中，41%的调对象显示出中度到重度的焦虑，39%出现中到中度的抑郁，两者都比普通人群调查中的流行度要高出六倍。

The researchers also found significant variation by gender.

研究者还发现性别间存在明显差异。

About one-third of male respondents reported experiencing each condition, compared with approximately 40% of female participants and more than half of the 42 transgender and gender-nonconforming respondents.

大约有三分之一的男性受访者称自己经历过这种情况，而女性参与者中约有40%，42个跨性别者和性别不详的受访者中有一半以上。

The data also suggest that a perceived supportive relationship with one’s principal investigator (PI) and healthy work-life balance correlate with better mental health, the authors write.

数据还表明与首席研究员（PI）之间感受到相互支持的关系以及健康的工作生活的平衡，都和更好的心理健康相关，作者写道。

Approximately half of the students with anxiety or depression reported not having supportive relationships with their PIs, as measured in a variety of ways, including whether the students feel valued, whether their PIs have a positive impact on their mental well-being, and whether they feel that their PIs are assets to their careers.

大约一半的在调查中显示焦虑或抑郁的学生们表示，他们与首席研究员PI之间不存在相互支持的关系，这回以各种方式体现出来，包括学生们是否感觉自己被重视，他们的PI是否对他们的心理健康有积极的影响以及他们是否感觉到PI会成为将来工作中的人脉资源。

More than half of respondents with anxiety or depression didn’t feel that they had a good work-life balance.

超过一半的感到焦虑或抑郁的受访者感觉自己并没有实现工作和生活的良好平衡。

“These data and others call for a major need for institutions to create programs to help solve these issues,” says co-author Nathan Vanderford, an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

“这些数据还包括其他的研究都在呼吁高校能够建立一些项目来帮助解决这些问题，”共同作者内森.范德福德说，他是位于莱克星顿的肯塔基大学的助理教授。

In the paper, the authors encourage institutions to see mental health as an essential component of the skillset that is necessary for successful career development.

在论文中，作者们鼓励高校将心理健康看成是技能项的基本组分之一，这些技能项对于事业发展成果都是很必需的。

Their recommended actions include increasing awareness of mental health issues among students, facilitating access to dedicated support, training PIs to spot struggling students and refer them to appropriate resources, and encouraging PIs to promote work-life balance by leading by example.

他们给出的建议措施包括增强学生们的心理健康问题意识，并提供专用支持渠道，让PI们能够识别心里有问题的学生，然后给他们提供合适的资源，以及鼓励PI们发挥模范带头作用，实现工作和生活的良好平衡。

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