Code for: "Graduate Student Mental Health: Lessons from American Economics Departments"

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Valentin Bolotnyy, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Matthew Basilico, Harvard University; Paul Barreira, Harvard University

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
figure			02/28/2022 08:58:PM
output			02/28/2022 08:58:PM
stata			02/28/2022 08:58:PM
table			02/28/2022 08:59:PM
README.pdf	application/pdf	201.1 KB	06/02/2022 12:02:PM
generate_tables.py	text/x-python	887 bytes	02/28/2022 03:58:PM
requirements.txt	text/plain	89 bytes	02/28/2022 03:58:PM

Project Citation:

Bolotnyy, Valentin, Basilico, Matthew, and Barreira, Paul. Code for: “Graduate Student Mental Health: Lessons from American Economics Departments.” Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2022. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2022-12-06. https://doi.org/10.3886/E163601V1

Project Description

Summary: Code that generates tables and figures found in the paper "Graduate Student Mental Health: Lessons from American Economics Departments." Data are confidential. Abstract:

We study the mental health of graduate students at 8 top-ranked economics PhD programs in the U.S. using clinically validated surveys. We find that 24.8% experience moderate or severe symptoms of depression or anxiety - more than two times the population average. Though our response rate was 45.1% and sample selection concerns exist, conservative lower bounds nonetheless suggest higher prevalence rates of such symptoms than in the general population. Mental health issues are especially prevalent at the end of the PhD program: 36.7% of students in years 6+ of their program experience moderate or severe symptoms of depression or anxiety, versus 21.2% of first-year students. 25.2% of economics students with these symptoms are in treatment, compared to 41.4% of graduate students in other programs. A similar percentage of economics students (40-50%) say they cannot honestly discuss mental health with advisers as say they cannot easily discuss non-academic career options with them. Only 26% find their work to be useful always or most of the time, compared to 70% of economics faculty and 63% of the working age population. We provide recommendations for students, faculty, and administrators on ways to improve graduate student mental health.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: graduate students; mental health; classroom environment

JEL Classification:
A14 Sociology of Economics
A23 Economic Education and Teaching of Economics: Graduate

Geographic Coverage: United States

Time Period(s): 10/1/2017 – 6/1/2018

Data Type(s): program source code

Methodology

Response Rate: 45.1%

Sampling: PhD students enrolled in one of 8 top-ranked economics PhD programs during the 2017-2018 academic year. Programs included:

Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Michigan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Princeton University, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, and Yale University.

Data Source: Survey

Collection Mode(s): web-based survey

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Published Versions

V1 [2022-12-06]

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