Academic mental health is shaped by intersecting individual capacities, institutional climates, and global publication pressures, with personal mastery emerging as the strongest protective factor and publication stress and unwanted workplace behavior as consistent risk factors.
Nearly half of Indonesian academics surveyed reported working more than the legal standard of 40 hours per week, with work extending into evenings, weekends, and holidays.
Most participating academics reported low or minimal anxiety and depression, with moderate stress being the most common stress level.
Female academics, younger academics, those without children, and those in lower ranks with lower income were the groups most vulnerable to poorer mental health outcomes.
Higher publication stress was consistently associated with lower well-being and higher psychological distress across all mental health outcomes measured.
Greater experience of unwanted behavior at the workplace was consistently associated with lower well-being and higher psychological distress.
Higher personal mastery was the strongest and most consistent protective factor, associated with better mental health, greater work satisfaction, higher happiness at work, and lower stress, anxiety, depression, and emotional exhaustion.
The authors conclude that interventions for academic mental health should move beyond individual-focused strategies to include institutional-level policies.
This research surveyed 1,380 university academics across Indonesia to understand what factors harm or protect their mental health. The study found that while most academics reported relatively low levels of anxiety and depression, a significant portion—about 40%—were working more than the legally mandated 40-hour work week, often spilling into evenings, weekends, and holidays. Certain groups were particularly at risk for worse mental health: women, younger academics, those without children, and those in lower-ranking, lower-income positions tended to fare worse across mental health measures. Two factors consistently made mental health worse: stress related to publishing academic research and experiencing unwanted or hostile behaviors in the workplace. On the protective side, 'personal mastery'—a person's sense of control and competence over their own life—was the single strongest factor associated with better mental health outcomes, including lower stress, anxiety, depression, and burnout, and higher happiness and satisfaction at work. Its association with reduced stress was particularly strong. This research suggests that fixing academic mental health cannot rely solely on helping individuals build resilience or coping skills. Because publication pressure and workplace mistreatment are driven by institutional and systemic forces, the authors argue that universities and policymakers need to create institutional-level changes—such as policies that reduce unrealistic publishing demands, address workplace harassment and bullying, and support healthier working conditions—particularly for the most vulnerable groups in academia.
Abidin F, Eliyanah E, Purba F, Kadiyono A, Sunardy G, Fadilah S, et al.. (2026). Mental health in academia: A national survey on risk and protective factors in the Indonesian context.. PloS one. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358652