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The COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow is drawing to a close. And despite high hopes, many young people may be feeling disappointed with the progress at these landmark talks.
They may be feeling anxious about their future, considering they’ll be bearing the brunt of the impact of decisions made over the past two weeks.
Watch Greta Thunberg's speech at a protest outside the UN climate summit in Glasgow, where she decried #COP26 as a "PR event." https://t.co/3hplQTVPtK pic.twitter.com/WQBLy9XRus
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 5, 2021
But that’s not necessarily a problem. For some, a growing concern can motivate them to take action.
Eco-anxiety relates to worry and despair about climate change. Connected terms include “ecological grief”, which reflects grief related to ecological loss. People can also experience emotions such as fear, guilt and anger about climate change.
We know adults experience these types of climate-related emotions.
Read more: Ignoring young people’s climate change fears is a recipe for anxiety
However, understanding young people’s views about climate change is important as they are more likely to be alive to experience its worst potential effects.
Young people have also had a prominent role in climate activism, including the School Strike 4 Climate movement involving millions of young people around the world.
Given the level of young people’s worry or concern about climate change we identified in our study, we may see their views becoming more influential as they reach voting age.
Listening to these climate change concerns is vital. However, only 13% of young people in Australia feel government leaders are listening to them.
We asked young people about climate change
In our study, we tracked concern and worrying about climate change in more than 2,200 Australian young people over a period of eight years. At the start of the study, participants were aged 10-11, so by the end, they were 18-19 years old.
At 18-19 years of age, most young people (75%) had at least some concern or worry about climate change. But we also identified different patterns of climate worry over time.
About half had increasing or had maintained moderate levels of worry over time. A total of 13% maintained high levels of worry over the eight years we tracked them.
But 17% had persistently low levels of worry. Some young people became less worried over time.
Read more: Sunday essay: why we need children’s life stories like I Am Greta
Compared to those who were moderately worried, adolescents with high levels of persistent climate worry had higher depression symptoms at age 18-19. However, those who increased their climate-related worry over time did not.
This suggests developing an awareness and concern for the environment was not associated with general mental health difficulties.
Those with persistently high and increasing levels of climate worry had greater engagement with politics and news at 18-19 years.
There are some positives
Some level of worry and anxiety is normal. Anxiety can play an important role in protecting ourselves from danger and threat.
Some worry may also motivate people to engage in constructive responses to climate change.
Although we did not specifically examine activism in our study, previous studies show climate worry is associated with greater feelings of personal responsibility to make changes to reduce the impacts of climate change.
Listening to #FridaysForFuture child activists talk about their activism, how they feel about the future, eco-anxiety and how their school education urgently needs to teach climate change. Children are bearing the brunt of this crisis – let's listen to them! #COP26 pic.twitter.com/YmQaLAA6ep
— Save the Children Global Media (@Save_GlobalNews) November 9, 2021
Our study shows that for most young people, climate worry is not associated with general mental health difficulties.
However we don’t yet know the relationship between climate-related worry and mental health difficulties in younger children, as our study only looked at mental health outcomes at age 18-19.
What if your concerns are overwhelming?
Open communication about climate-related worry is essential. Parents play an important role and can talk with their children about these issues and listen to and validate their concerns.
Worrying about the environment is rational and grounded in reality, as we are increasingly seeing the impacts of climate change around us.
It’s OK for young people to feel worried. And we shouldn’t assume these worries are unproductive or necessarily associated with broader mental health difficulties.
Acknowledging and validating feelings is key, and supporting young people to engage in activities to take action, if they want to, may help.
Reassuringly, most young people in our study were not presenting with levels of worry that would warrant further assessment or treatment.
Read more: Young people won’t accept inaction on climate change, and they’ll be voting in droves
Where to go for support
If young people (and their parents) want additional support, seeing a GP is a good first step. Young people can also visit specialist youth mental health services such as headspace.
A psychologist or other mental health professional can help young people develop ways of coping with and managing their worries.
If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
This article was co-authored by:
Disclosure statement
Emma Sciberras receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Medical Research Future Fund, veski, and the Waterloo Foundation.
Julian Fernando does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.