Relationship of Perceived Stress and Self-Efficacy with Satisfaction of Dissertation Process among Ph.D. Students

 Stress and self-efficacy directly affects the satisfaction of Ph.D. students. This research was designed to examine the relation of perceived stress and self-efficacy with satisfaction of the dissertation process among Ph.D students in University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Two hundred and fifty doctoral students who were working on their dissertations participated in this study. For data collection, three instruments were used and the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient value of internal consistency for Perceived Stress Scale was 0.75 and that of Dissertation Self-Efficacy Scale was 0.95. The results revealed that Ph.D. Students perceived low-level stress and had a high level of self-efficacy regarding dissertation structural tasks. Doctoral students were moderately satisfied with dissertation process. It was also found that females felt more stress and anxiety than males and both had the same level of self-efficacy and satisfaction. Study revealed significant difference in efficacy of completers and non-completers of dissertation. Self-efficacy and satisfaction had positive relationship with each other while stress was negatively related to satisfaction and self-efficacy. Ph.D. students with had high self-efficacy and less stress were satisfied with their dissertation than students having stress on them