Doctoral Life and the Emotional Strain Due to Family Expectations
In collectivist societies, where family and community hold significant importance, doctoral students often face unique challenges that can impact their mental health and academic success.
These pressures stem from a multitude of sources, including socio-economic hardships, strong family expectations, and cultural norms that both motivate academic success and contribute to psychological stress.
Mental Health Stigma and Help-Seeking Barriers
In these societies, emotional suppression related to mental health struggles is common due to the emphasis on group cohesion and social harmony. Students may avoid disclosing symptoms of depression or anxiety out of fear of social stigma, shame to the family, and damaging their social reputation. This cultural suppression can delay or prevent seeking professional help.
Familial Expectations and Academic Pressure
Students in collectivist societies often face persistent academic pressure embedded in cultural and family expectations, especially in societies where educational success is closely linked to family pride and social standing. Failure or delay can provoke deep remorse and shame, magnifying psychological distress.
Economic Stress and Family Functioning
Socio-economic hardship indirectly affects students by creating familial stress, which students internalize, thereby increasing worry and depressive symptoms. However, collectivist values such as family support and “saving face” may lead parents to shield children from the emotional effects of economic hardship, which can buffer some negative impacts but may also suppress open conversation about stress.
Isolation and Limited Coping Opportunities
Due to rigid schedules and limited leisure time, coupled with stigma against discussing mental health, doctoral students may experience social isolation and lack healthy outlets for stress relief, worsening mental health problems.
Despite these pressures, collectivist values can also provide protective social support frameworks, whereby family and close community can offer emotional and practical support. However, this depends on the openness of communication about mental health issues.
A Path Forward
Understanding the intersecting pressures facing doctoral students in collectivist societies is crucial for creating supportive academic environments. This requires micro and macro interventions, including reframing family dialogue about success and timelines and reimagining institutional policies that make room for varied life trajectories.
The academic culture needs to change so that education and marriage are not mutually exclusive, and intellectual pursuits are not seen as selfish desires. Fellowships and scholarships should include provisions for married students, parental leave, and family health insurance.
Universities should mainstream the marriage and parenting of doctoral students and institute mechanisms like flexible deadlines, family accommodation, and spouse career support. Marital PhD students, particularly women, often find it challenging to manage spouse duties as well as academic productivity.
The doctoral path requires a humane and inclusive scholarly culture that recognizes the student as a whole person with rich personal lives. Real change will entail acknowledging the validity of alternative life choices and timelines for doctoral students and providing the necessary support to navigate the complex mental health landscape they face.
While direct large-scale studies on doctoral students in collectivist societies are limited, the findings presented here synthesize relevant literature on youth and university students’ mental health under these cultural and socio-economic conditions. This provides a robust framework to understand the intersecting pressures facing doctoral students in such contexts.
- In such collectivist societies, the stigma surrounding mental health issues often prevents students from seeking help, due to fear of social stigma, family shame, and damages to their social reputation.
- The academic pressure in collectivist societies, rooted in cultural and family expectations, can cause significant psychological distress, especially when failure or delay is perceived as a source of deep remorse and shame.
- Socio-economic hardship in collectivist societies indirectly affects students by creating abnormal familial stress, which students internalize, leading to increased worry and depressive symptoms.
- Due to the cultural suppression of discussing mental health issues, doctoral students in collectivist societies may experience social isolation and lack healthy outlets for stress relief, exacerbating mental health problems.
- Despite the pressures faced, collectivist values can offer protective social support frameworks, where family and close community provide emotional and practical support – if open communication about mental health issues is encouraged.
- To create supportive academic environments for doctoral students in collectivist societies, micro and macro interventions are needed, such as reframing family dialogue, changing academic culture, and modifying institutional policies.
- The academic culture should evolve so that education and personal life choices, such as marriage and parenting, are not mutually exclusive, and intellectual pursuits are not seen as selfish desires.
- Universities should mainstream the lives of married doctoral students, offering flexible deadlines, family accommodation, and support for spouse careers. This would alleviate the challenges faced by marital doctoral students, particularly women.
- Recognizing the unique pressures faced by doctoral students in collectivist societies and addressing these challenges holistically through a humane and inclusive scholarly culture is essential for the mental health and overall well-being of these students – ensuring personal growth, mental health, relationships, careers, and family dynamics are all accounted for.
