Climate Change and Child Health - Assessment of Parents’ Perspective and Relevance

Abstract

Background: Ongoing climate change has several indirect and direct health consequences. Children are among the most vulnerable group to suffer from these health impacts. Parents as caregivers play a particularly important role in protecting them adequately. Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate how parents perceive the health consequences of climate change. Of particular interest were their information status and already used communication channels, to make them more addressable. In addition, their risk perception and relevance estimation of the health consequences of climate change for their children were investigated. Methods: Parents were able to participate anonymously in the study from March to June 2020 by means of an online questionnaire. The study sample consisted of 292 parents living in Germany (age: M = 42.02; SD = 7.73; sex: ♀ = 190; ♂ = 54) with at least one child aged 0 to 18 years. Open-ended questions and closed-ended questions with Likert scales were used. Data were analyzed descriptively. Correlations and regression analysis were performed. Findings: About 75% of the respondents knew at least one health consequence of climate change. Heat related illnesses were named as the most important health consequences (74.1%). Parents obtain most of their information from the Internet (73.3%). The increase of air pollutants is estimated as the most relevant risk for the health of their children. Relevance estimation affects risk perception. Conclusion: Parents are aware of the importance of being informed about the health consequences of climate change. Therefore, knowledge about the health consequences in relation to the relevance assessment must be communicated clearly and sufficiently. Information channels already used should be improved and further multipliers identified.