We\u2019ve all read the stories and seen the images: The life-threatening heat waves. The wildfires of unprecedented ferocity. The record-breaking storms washing away entire neighborhoods. The melting glaciers, the rising sea levels, the coastal flooding.<\/p>\n
As California wildfires stretch into the colder months and hurricane survivors sort through the ruins left by floodwaters, let\u2019s talk about an underreported victim of climate change: the emotional well-being of young people.<\/p>\n
A nascent but growing body of research shows that a large proportion of adolescents and young adults, in the United States and abroad, feel anxious and worried about the impact of an unstable climate in their lives today and in the future.<\/p>\n
Abby Rafeek, 14, is disquieted by the ravages of climate change, both near her home and far away. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely affecting my life, because it\u2019s causing stress thinking about the future and how, if we\u2019re not addressing the problem now as a society, our planet is going to get worse,\u201d says Abby, a high school student who lives in Gardena, California, a city of 58,000<\/a> about 15 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.<\/p>\n She says wildfires are a particular worry for her. \u201cThat\u2019s closer to where I live, so it\u2019s a bigger problem for me personally, and it also causes a lot of damage to the surrounding areas,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd also, the air gets messed up.\u201d<\/p>\n In April, Abby took a survey on climate change for kids ages 12-17 during a visit to the emergency room at Children\u2019s Hospital of Orange County.<\/p>\n Rammy Assaf, a pediatric emergency physician at the hospital, adapted the survey from one developed five years ago for adults. He administered his version<\/a> last year to over 800 kids ages 12-17 and their caregivers. He says initial results show climate change is a serious cause of concern for the emotional security and well-being of young people.<\/p>\n Assaf has followed up with the kids to ask more open-ended questions, including whether they believe climate change will be solved in their lifetimes; how they feel when they read about extreme climate events; what they think about the future of the planet; and with whom they are able to discuss their concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen asked about their outlook for the future, the first words they will use are helpless, powerless, hopeless,\u201d Assaf says. \u201cThese are very strong emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n Assaf says he would like to see questions about climate change included in mental health screenings at pediatricians\u2019 offices and in other settings where children get medical care. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that counseling on climate change<\/a> be incorporated into the clinical practice of pediatricians and into medical school curriculums, but not with specific regard to mental health screening.<\/p>\n Assaf says anxiety about climate change intersects with the broader mental health crisis among youth, which has been marked by a rise in depression, loneliness, and suicide over the past decade, though there are recent signs it may be improving<\/a> slightly.<\/p>\n A 2022 Harris Poll<\/a> of 1,500 U.S. teenagers found that 89% of them regularly think about the environment, \u201cwith the majority feeling more worried than hopeful.\u201d In addition, 69% said they feared they and their families would be affected by climate change in the near future. And 82% said they expected to have to make key life decisions \u2014 including where to live and whether to have children \u2014 based on the state of the environment.<\/p>\n And the impact is clearly not limited to the U.S. A 2021 survey<\/a> of 10,000 16- to 25-year-olds across 10 countries found \u201c59% were very or extremely worried and 84% were at least moderately worried\u201d about climate change.<\/p>\n Susan Clayton, chair of the psychology department at the College of Wooster in Ohio, says climate change anxiety may be more pronounced among younger people than adults. \u201cOlder adults didn\u2019t grow up being as aware of climate change or thinking about it very much, so there\u2019s still a barrier to get over to accept it\u2019s a real thing,\u201d says Clayton, who co-created the adult climate change survey<\/a> that Assaf adapted for younger people.<\/p>\n By contrast, \u201cadolescents grew up with it as a real thing,\u201d Clayton says. \u201cKnowing you have the bulk of your life ahead of you gives you a very different view of what your life will be like.\u201d She adds that younger people in particular feel betrayed by their government, which they don\u2019t think is taking the problem seriously enough, and \u201cthis feeling of betrayal is associated with greater anxiety about the climate.\u201d<\/p>\n Abby believes climate change is not being addressed with sufficient resolve. \u201cI think if we figure out how to live on Mars and explore the deep sea, we could definitely figure out how to live here in a healthy environment,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n If you are a parent whose children show signs of climate anxiety, you can help.<\/p>\n Louise Chawla, professor emerita in the environmental design program at the University of Colorado-Boulder, says the most important thing is to listen in an open-ended way. \u201cLet there be space for kids to express their emotions. Just listen to them and let them know it\u2019s safe to express these emotions,\u201d says Chawla, who co-founded the nonprofit Growing Up Boulder<\/a>, which works with the city\u2019s schools to encourage kids to engage civically, including to help shape their local environment.<\/p>\n Chawla and others recommend family activities that reinforce a commitment to the environment. They can be as simple as walking or biking and participating in cleanup or recycling efforts. Also, encourage your children to join activities and advocacy efforts sponsored by environmental, civic, or religious organizations.<\/p>\n Working with others can help alleviate stress and feelings of powerlessness by reassuring kids they are not alone and that they can be proactive.<\/p>\n Worries about climate change should be seen as a learning opportunity that might even lead some kids to their life\u2019s path, says Vickie Mays, professor of psychology and health policy at UCLA, who teaches a class on climate change and mental health \u2014 one of eight similar courses<\/a> offered recently at UC campuses.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should get out of this habit of \u2018everything\u2019s a mental health problem,\u2019\u201d Mays says, \u201cand understand that often a challenge, a stress, a worry can be turned into advocacy, activism, or a reach for new knowledge to change the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n This article was produced by <\/em>KFF Health News<\/em><\/a>, which publishes <\/em>California Healthline<\/em><\/a>, an editorially independent service of the <\/em>California Health Care Foundation<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. 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