ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the impact of informal care on the mental health of PhD candidates in the Netherlands and the outcomes of doctoral education, such as PhD progress. A sample of 242 PhD candidates completed an online questionnaire and 16 semi-structured interviews were held. Almost one third of the respondents had given informal care on a regular basis to, e.g., a partner, family member, friend, or partner in the year prior to the survey. Results show that PhD candidates giving informal care have worse mental health than those who don’t, whereas no significant differences were found for PhD progress.
