Author : Samantha Stevens
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (14 download)
Book Synopsis A Longitudinal Inquiry Into Ph.D. Student Psychological Experiences by : Samantha Stevens
Download or read book A Longitudinal Inquiry Into Ph.D. Student Psychological Experiences written by Samantha Stevens and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this dissertation, I use a social psychological lens to investigate the experiences of STEM Ph.D. students. Specifically, I examine the utility of using student baseline psychological threat profiles to predict attrition, publication and grant outcomes, and psychological trajectories over time. Moreover, I examine the potential moderating influence of student psychological threat profile on the effectiveness of two social-psychological interventions, namely values-affirmation and social belonging interventions which were administered to matriculating doctoral students as part of a longitudinal controlled field experiment. With the goal of adding to basic understanding of Ph.D. student psychological experiences over time, I explore linear and nonlinear trajectories in student experiences over the first three years of doctoral education. Results highlight the utility of latent class analysis for prospectively identifying the students most vs least at risk of attrition and negative psychological experiences over time--specifically, and as hypothesized, the Highest Threat class fared the worst (e.g., highest attrition rate), followed by the Engaged/Worried class, then the Nonchalant class, and lastly the Lowest Threat class. Moreover, I found that doctoral students across risk groups tend to experience doctoral education more negatively as the first three years of study go by, which highlights how psychologically challenging doctoral education can be even for the most confident and prepared students. Additionally, differences between risk groups tend to persist over time, but there is some preliminary evidence that social psychological intervention can help to mitigate psychological threat across classes. Furthermore, preliminary evidence suggests that social psychological intervention can promote retention for the student subgroups that are in the middle range of risk, the Nonchalant and Engaged/Worried classes. However, the belonging and affirmation interventions unexpectedly appear to work differently for different classes, which points to the need for more investigation into how these interventions compare in terms of mechanisms and effects. Results also suggest that intervention may have backfired on the Lowest Threat students, which highlights the importance of tailoring interventions to those who are most expected to benefit. Overall, these findings contribute to our understanding of the Ph.D. student experience, suggest potential boundary conditions for belonging and affirmation interventions, and underscore the utility of a person-centered approach to identifying student risk groups.
