How children make sense of climate change: A descriptive qualitative study of eco-anxiety in parent-child dyads

Abstract

The climate crisis not only has significant impacts on biodiversity and the physical health of humans, but its ramifications are also affecting people’s mental health. Eco-anxiety, or the emotions that emerge with the awareness of climate change and the apprehension of its detrimental effects, has been investigated in adults and adolescents, but much less attention has been given to the impacts on children’s mental health and well-being. Initial evidence confirms that youth are significantly concerned about climate change, but few studies have investigated the resulting emotional responses of children and the role of their parents in tempering these, especially using qualitative methodologies. The present study used a descriptive qualitative design with a convenience sample of parents and child dyads, assessed separately. Children’s (n = 15, ages 8–12 years) experiences were explored using semi-structured interviews and their parents’ (n = 12) perceptions were captured using a survey with closed and open-ended questions. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data, and content analysis was used to investigate parent-child experiences. Three themes emerged from the thematic analysis: 1. children’s understanding of climate change, 2. their emotional reaction to climate change, and 3. their coping mechanisms to deal with these emotions. The comparative content analysis revealed that parents who were aware that their children had concerns about climate change, had children who used more adaptive coping mechanisms. The results of this qualitative study contribute to a better understanding of children’s emotional experience of the awareness of climate change in Canada and how they cope with these emotions. Furthermore, the results provide insight into the role parents might play in helping their children cope with their feelings.

Editorial: Climate change challenge in pediatric psychology

“…Schools and communities can create opportunities for children to participate in environmental projects, such as planting trees, cleaning up local waterways, or advocating for sustainable practices. By giving children a voice and a platform to contribute to positive change, we can help them feel empowered to be part of the solution (Chou et al, 2023 ; Léger-Goodes et al, 2023 ).…”

Academic Coverage of Social Stressors Experienced by Disabled People: A Scoping Review

“…Anxiety is increasingly linked to environmental issues, as evident in phrases such as eco-anxiety, climate anxiety, and others [50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]130]. As such, it is important that the academic discussions cover disabled people under these terms with a focus on environmentbased social stressors that might add to the environment-based anxiety.…”

“…Anxiety is increasingly linked in academic and non-academic discussions to natural environmental issues, as evident in phrases such as eco-anxiety and climate anxiety [50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]. It is important that disabled people are covered under these terms, as disabled people disproportionally experience nature-based social stressors [64,65], which could lead to anxiety.…”