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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0PLOS One

Mental health in academia: A national survey on risk and protective factors in the Indonesian context

  • Fitri Ariyanti Abidin1
  • Evi Eliyanah2
  • Fredrick Dermawan Purba3
  • Anissa Lestari Kadiyono4
  • Grace Natasha Sunardy5
  • Syipa Husni Fadilah6
  • Joeri K. Tijdink7
7 affiliations
  1. 1Department of General, Developmental, and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang, Indonesia
  2. 2Center for Relationship, Family Life and Parenting Studies, Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang, Indonesia
  3. 3Department of English, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia
  4. 4Akademi Ilmuwan Muda Indonesia (Indonesian Young Academy of Sciences), Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia
  5. 5Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang, Indonesia
  6. 6Center for Innovation and Psychological Research, Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang, Indonesia
  7. 7Department of Social, Organizational, and Cultural Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang, Indonesia
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Abstract

University academics are central to advancing higher education through teaching, research, and community engagement. However, mental-health challenges in this population have risen in recent years, partially driven by systemic pressures such as hypercompetition, heavy workloads, job insecurity, and escalating expectations for research productivity and publication output. This national survey included 1,380 academics (37.1% men, 62.7% women; M = 40.09 years) from 32 of Indonesia’s 38 provinces, representing both public and private institutions and all academic ranks from lecturer to full professor. The findings showed that nearly half of the participants (40.5%) reported working more than 40 hours per week, exceeding the standard legal working hours in Indonesia, with work often extending into evenings, weekends, and holidays. Most participants reported low/minimal anxiety (63.1%) and moderate stress (63.8%), while depression was mostly low/minimal (43.3%) or mild (36.3%). Female, younger age, academics without children, and those in lower ranks with lower income were the groups most vulnerable to poorer mental health outcomes. Across the risk and protective factors examined, higher publication stress and greater experience of unwanted behavior at the workplace were consistently associated with lower levels of well-being and higher psychological distress (β = −.19 to.20 and −.15 to.16, respectively; all ps < .001). In contrast, higher personal mastery was consistently associated with better mental-health (β = .39), greater work satisfaction (β = .33), higher happiness at work (β = .37), and lower stress (β = −.50), anxiety (β = −.40), depression (β = −.41), and emotional exhaustion (β = −.31) (all ps < .001). These findings suggest that academic mental health is shaped by intersecting individual capacities, institutional climates, and global publication pressures. Interventions should therefore move beyond individual-focused strategies and include institutional policies that prevent and address unwanted behavior in the workplace, reduce publication stress, and promote healthier work practices.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{abidin2026mental,
  title = {{Mental health in academia: A national survey on risk and protective factors in the Indonesian context}},
  author = {Fitri Ariyanti Abidin and Evi Eliyanah and Fredrick Dermawan Purba and Anissa Lestari Kadiyono and Grace Natasha Sunardy and Syipa Husni Fadilah and Joeri K. Tijdink},
  journal = {PLOS One},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0358652},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358652},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Mental health in academia: A national survey on risk and protective factors in the Indonesian context
AU  - Fitri Ariyanti Abidin
AU  - Evi Eliyanah
AU  - Fredrick Dermawan Purba
AU  - Anissa Lestari Kadiyono
AU  - Grace Natasha Sunardy
AU  - Syipa Husni Fadilah
AU  - Joeri K. Tijdink
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/21
JO  - PLOS One
DO  - 10.1371/journal.pone.0358652
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358652
AB  - University academics are central to advancing higher education through teaching, research, and community engagement. However, mental-health challenges in this population have risen in recent years, partially driven by systemic pressures such as hypercompetition, heavy workloads, job insecurity, and escalating expectations for research productivity and publication output. This national survey included 1,380 academics (37.1% men, 62.7% women; M = 40.09 years) from 32 of Indonesia’s 38 provinces, representing both public and private institutions and all academic ranks from lecturer to full professor. The findings showed that nearly half of the participants (40.5%) reported working more than 40 hours per week, exceeding the standard legal working hours in Indonesia, with work often extending into evenings, weekends, and holidays. Most participants reported low/minimal anxiety (63.1%) and moderate stress (63.8%), while depression was mostly low/minimal (43.3%) or mild (36.3%). Female, younger age, academics without children, and those in lower ranks with lower income were the groups most vulnerable to poorer mental health outcomes. Across the risk and protective factors examined, higher publication stress and greater experience of unwanted behavior at the workplace were consistently associated with lower levels of well-being and higher psychological distress (β = −.19 to.20 and −.15 to.16, respectively; all ps < .001). In contrast, higher personal mastery was consistently associated with better mental-health (β = .39), greater work satisfaction (β = .33), higher happiness at work (β = .37), and lower stress (β = −.50), anxiety (β = −.40), depression (β = −.41), and emotional exhaustion (β = −.31) (all ps < .001). These findings suggest that academic mental health is shaped by intersecting individual capacities, institutional climates, and global publication pressures. Interventions should therefore move beyond individual-focused strategies and include institutional policies that prevent and address unwanted behavior in the workplace, reduce publication stress, and promote healthier work practices.
SN  - 1932-6203
ER  -