TABLE 2.

Research-related factors that PhD students reported negatively affected their depression

Factor	Description	% (n) (N = 50)	Example quote	Example quote
Failures, obstacles, or setbacks during research	Experiencing failure, obstacles, or setbacks in graduate school can negatively affect student depression. This commonly includes experiencing failed experiments or failed research projects, rejections of grant proposals, or rejections of papers.	48 (24)	Student 20: “Everything just fails and you have zero positive results and nothing you can publish. That was one of the worst things for me. The stress of knowing that you are not succeeding is really bad [for depression].”	Student 5: “I could do everything perfectly and for one reason or another the whole project could just fail. So, I think the breakdown of that link between my actions and the outcome, that was hard.”
Unstructured research experiences	Research experiences that are unstructured, that is, they do not have a clear set of directions or deadlines to guide the work, can negatively affect student depression.	38 (19)	Student 34: “My depression has not enjoyed or been spared by the fact that research is self-directed. Finding the equipment, finding the questions, finding the method rests on me.”	Student 12: “For me, I think the periods of time post-classes were a lot harder in terms of mental health, where there aren’t as many external deadlines. You’re mostly driven by your own goals and ambitions every day. (…) But when [goals and ambitions] are dropped, it’s really easy for depression to kick in.”
Negative reinforcement	Negative reinforcement from others in research such as harsh criticism, feedback, comments, or reviews about one’s research or performance can negatively affect student depression.	34 (17)	Student 26: “[Your mentor] will tell you how poorly you’re doing to inspire you to work harder, and that’s not something that works with me, because I already see everything that I’m doing wrong, and all the problems in a project, so I don’t need a mentor that points out those problems to me again, because I’m like, ‘Yeah, I [expletive] know all the problems! I should just quit, right?’”	Student 7: “You say something stupid and your PI (principal investigator) suddenly says how stupid that is. And then all that just [makes me think] ‘I’m an idiot, I can’t do it.’”
Unreasonable or overwhelming expectations	Mentors or others in research who place too high of expectations on students, particularly related to the progress that they are making in research, can negatively affect student depression.	34 (17)	Student 4: “My [previous] advisor had really high expectations and was really pushy. It really exacerbated my depression a lot, because I felt like I could never live up to the expectations.”	Student 29: “I think when I’m working hard and where my hours are going doesn’t necessarily make sense to my advisor [it affects my depression]. I’m like, ‘No, I’m working, I’m working, I’m working.’ And then they’re like, ‘Well, but maybe work harder.’ That feels pretty bad.”
Opportunity to compare self to others	When students compare their success in research to others’ success, it can negatively affect their depression.	28 (14)	Student 24: “I think that I’m a huge person that compares themselves to others. When I hear others speak about their research or their progress, though it may not be light years away from mine, it feels that way. I get sad. I feel like I’m not where I’m supposed to be or that I don’t deserve to be where I’m at compared to others.”	Student 44: “Sometimes I see my other cohort students succeeding and not even in a jealous way necessarily, but I do measure myself against them. If I haven’t gotten my first author publication yet or whatever, that means I’m behind the curve. I think part of [my depression] is just comparing myself to others.”
Lack of technical support or guidance	Not receiving adequate support or guidance in research can negatively affect student depression.	22 (11)	Student 18: “I’ve experienced my PI being very absent. And so, not having that touchstone of advice like, ‘Stop now, maybe stop while you’re ahead, or maybe you can change this,’ and then wasting all that time or feeling like I’ve wasted all that time can make it harder [on my depression].”	Student 49: “You get thrown in the deep end on projects, and the lab has been so busy that there’s been no support. So, if you fall a little flat, then it’s just all on you where they’re like, ‘Oh man, I wish I could help you out with that or give you this support,’ and I feel like I’ve been set up to fail a lot.”
Social isolation	Feeling isolated when doing research, either because others in the lab or others outside graduate school cannot relate to specific stressors and experiences, can negatively affect student depression.	18 (9)	Student 8: “[Doing research] is very isolating because obviously not many people go for PhDs. I can’t talk to [my friends] about research struggles because they’re like, ‘OK, how do I fix that? You did that to yourself.’ And I’m like, ‘I mean, you’re right, but…’ Nobody understands you.”	Student 20: “I think that’s one thing [that affects my depression], when it comes to research, it’s quite a lonely experience sometimes when you’re working on your own project and everybody else has their own project. They have their own worries to think about and all you are stressing about is your own thing.”