Towards Growth and Sustainability: The Institutional and Disciplinary Dynamics of Post Graduate Law Research Networks

Law students are well recognised for having high levels of psychological distress, but arguably, as a group their mental health literacy, distress and associated factors have not been as well-studied as medical and health science students. Further, financial and accommodation pressures on students,...

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Main Authors: Felicity Bell, Rita Shackel, Linda Steele
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Bond University 2014-01-01
Series:Legal Education Review
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.6291
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author Felicity Bell
Rita Shackel
Linda Steele
author_facet Felicity Bell
Rita Shackel
Linda Steele
author_sort Felicity Bell
collection DOAJ
description Law students are well recognised for having high levels of psychological distress, but arguably, as a group their mental health literacy, distress and associated factors have not been as well-studied as medical and health science students. Further, financial and accommodation pressures on students, while featuring prominently in the general media, have been little studied in law students as has the impact of commuting on law students’ distress levels. This article reports on a 2013 survey of 579 Sydney Law School students which assessed their levels of psychological distress and examined a number of possible stressors including: age, having dependants, living circumstances, hours of paid work, familial financial support, hours of independent study, travel time, domestic or international student status and the amount of money spent on alcohol. The findings did not reveal any of these factors as clearly associated with stress. However, gender appeared to be the only significant predictor of psychological distress after controlling for degree type, as female students were significantly more distressed than male students although it is not clear why this might be so. This article also provides comparison with a similar 2011 survey of students at Sydney Medical School. Some differences between law students and medical students are discussed.
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spelling doaj.art-cf922389aa2a43c6b94902d50e4bb1292024-03-20T00:20:40ZengBond UniversityLegal Education Review1033-28391839-37132014-01-01241Towards Growth and Sustainability: The Institutional and Disciplinary Dynamics of Post Graduate Law Research NetworksFelicity BellRita ShackelLinda SteeleLaw students are well recognised for having high levels of psychological distress, but arguably, as a group their mental health literacy, distress and associated factors have not been as well-studied as medical and health science students. Further, financial and accommodation pressures on students, while featuring prominently in the general media, have been little studied in law students as has the impact of commuting on law students’ distress levels. This article reports on a 2013 survey of 579 Sydney Law School students which assessed their levels of psychological distress and examined a number of possible stressors including: age, having dependants, living circumstances, hours of paid work, familial financial support, hours of independent study, travel time, domestic or international student status and the amount of money spent on alcohol. The findings did not reveal any of these factors as clearly associated with stress. However, gender appeared to be the only significant predictor of psychological distress after controlling for degree type, as female students were significantly more distressed than male students although it is not clear why this might be so. This article also provides comparison with a similar 2011 survey of students at Sydney Medical School. Some differences between law students and medical students are discussed.https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.6291
spellingShingle Felicity Bell
Rita Shackel
Linda Steele
Towards Growth and Sustainability: The Institutional and Disciplinary Dynamics of Post Graduate Law Research Networks
Legal Education Review
title Towards Growth and Sustainability: The Institutional and Disciplinary Dynamics of Post Graduate Law Research Networks
title_full Towards Growth and Sustainability: The Institutional and Disciplinary Dynamics of Post Graduate Law Research Networks
title_fullStr Towards Growth and Sustainability: The Institutional and Disciplinary Dynamics of Post Graduate Law Research Networks
title_full_unstemmed Towards Growth and Sustainability: The Institutional and Disciplinary Dynamics of Post Graduate Law Research Networks
title_short Towards Growth and Sustainability: The Institutional and Disciplinary Dynamics of Post Graduate Law Research Networks
title_sort towards growth and sustainability the institutional and disciplinary dynamics of post graduate law research networks
url https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.6291
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