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A survey of the severity of mental health symptoms in the planetary science community

Nature Astronomy volume 8, pages 691–696 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

There is a growing recognition of a mental health crisis within the academic and research communities. Members of the planetary science community have called for healthier work environments to improve mental well-being. As a preliminary step towards improving workplace culture, we sought to determine whether the broader mental health crisis extends to planetary science and to assess the severity of anxiety, depressive and stress symptoms. Our 2022 mental health survey of the planetary science community suggests that the severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms in the community is greater than in the general US population. Furthermore, anxiety and depressive symptoms are more severe for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers than any other career stage. Comparing groups within planetary science, we found that anxiety, depressive and/or stress symptoms appear greater among marginalized groups, such as women, people of colour and members of the LGBTQ+ community. A mental health problem is impacting the planetary science community. Improving well-being will promote enhanced research quality and productivity.

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Fig. 1: Prevalence of anxiety and depression.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by NASA under contract 80NSSC20KO361 issued through the Solar System Workings programme to D.T. A portion of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). The views and opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not constitute or imply its endorsement by the US Government or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government. We thank K. Clements, K. Williams, K. Bennett, C. Corti, M. Hosek and W. Best for their input. SOEST publication number 11792 and HIGP number 2490.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hawaiʻi Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    David Trang

  2. Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO, USA

    David Trang

  3. Hoʻokō Rising Scholars Program, Hawaiʻi Pacific University, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Christina E. Swafford

  4. Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Tamar A. Kreps

  5. Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Steven D. Vance & Christina R. Richey

  6. Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Jemma Davidson & Justin Filiberto

  7. Astrogeology Science Center, United States Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    Lillian R. Ostrach

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  1. David Trang
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  2. Christina E. Swafford
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Contributions

D.T., C.E.S., S.D.V., J.D., J.F., L.R.O. and C.R.R. contributed to the conception and design of the survey. D.T. and T.A.K. contributed to the analysis of the data and the writing of the paper. D.T., C.E.S., T.A.K., S.D.V., J.D., J.F., L.R.O. and C.R.R. provided interpretation of the data.

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Correspondence to David Trang.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Methods, References, Fig. 1 and Tables 1–4.

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Trang, D., Swafford, C.E., Kreps, T.A. et al. A survey of the severity of mental health symptoms in the planetary science community. Nat Astron 8, 691–696 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02293-w

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