UH-led study finds anxiety, depression major problems in space science community

A recent study shows that while they look into the cosmos with a twinkle in their eye and hope in what answers they can find about the existence of life itself, here at home on Earth members of the planetary science community are experiencing greater severity of anxiety and depression symptoms than the general U.S. population.

A recent study led by a University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa scientist also found that those symptoms are more severe for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers than at any other career stage.

The study was published in Nature Astronomy.

“After reading about so much anxiety and depression in academia, and as someone who loves both planetary science and psychology, I felt like I needed to do something because there are so many people suffering,” said David Trang, an assistant researcher at the Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at the time of the research and graduate student in the master’s in counseling psychology program at UH-Hilo.

Trang and co-authors from the UH-Mānoa Shidler College of Business, Hawai‘i Pacific University, Jet Propulsion Lab, NASA and U.S. Geological Survey, surveyed more than 300 members of the planetary science community.

The survey — prompted by growing recognition of a mental health crisis within the academic and research communities — requested demographic information and included commonly used assessments to measure the severity of anxiety, depression and stress symptoms.

The authors found that symptoms appear greater among marginalized groups, such as women, people of color and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus community. Furthermore, when examining the correlation between marginalized communities and considering leaving the planetary science field, LGBTQ+ respondents were more likely to be unsure about staying.

“Some of my colleagues have left the field of science because the academic workplace was hard on their well-being,” Trang said. “This is so unfortunate because science would benefit from each and every person who is passionate about research, as they could contribute so much to the field.”

He said the study marks the beginning of changes needed to improve mental health in the planetary sciences field.

In the near future, Trang hopes to run psychoeducation workshops based on psychotherapy concepts to begin improving mental health in the planetary sciences field and potentially serve as a model to improve mental health across the academia spectrum.

“I hope to continue to unravel what is driving these mental health issues and collectively develop solutions that will improve well-being, which will in turn enhance research quality and productivity,” Trang said. “Addressing mental health will inevitably improve diversity, equity and inclusion, as they are linked together.”