Gibson K E, Barnett J, Haslam N, Kaplan I
Phoenix Australia Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Level 3, 161 Barry Street, Carlton, VIC, 3053, Australia; School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Level 12, Redmond Barry Building, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia.
School of Geography, The University of Melbourne, 207-221 Bouverie St., Carlton, VIC, 3053, Australia.
J Anxiety Disord. 2020 Jun;73:102237. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102237. Epub 2020 May 20.
Climate change is anticipated to have profound effects on mental health, particularly among populations that are simultaneously ecologically and economically vulnerable to its impacts. Various pathways through which climate change can impact mental health have been theorised, but the impacts themselves remain understudied.
In this article we applied psychological methods to examine if climate change is affecting individuals' mental health in the Small Island Developing State of Tuvalu, a Pacific Island nation regarded as exceptionally vulnerable to climate change. We determined the presence of psychological distress and associated impairment attributed to two categories of climate change-related stressors in particular: 1) local environmental impacts caused or exacerbated by climate change, and 2) hearing about global climate change and contemplating its future implications.
The findings draw on data collected in a mixed-method study involving 100 Tuvaluan participants. Data were collected via face-to-face structured interviews that lasted 45 min on average and were subjected to descriptive, correlational, and between-group analyses.
The findings revealed participants' experiences of distress in relation to both types of stressor, and demonstrated that a high proportion of participants are experiencing psychological distress at levels that reportedly cause them impairment in one or more areas of daily life.
The findings lend weight to the claim that climate change represents a risk to mental health and obliges decision-makers to consider these risks when conceptualizing climate-related harms or tallying the costs of inaction.
气候变化预计会对心理健康产生深远影响，尤其是对那些在生态和经济上同时易受其影响的人群。气候变化影响心理健康的各种途径已得到理论阐述，但这些影响本身仍未得到充分研究。
在本文中，我们运用心理学方法来研究气候变化是否正在影响图瓦卢这个小岛屿发展中国家（一个被视为特别易受气候变化影响的太平洋岛国）民众的心理健康。我们确定了心理困扰的存在以及与两类特定的与气候变化相关的压力源相关的损害：1）气候变化导致或加剧的当地环境影响，以及2）听闻全球气候变化并思考其未来影响。
研究结果基于一项涉及100名图瓦卢参与者的混合方法研究中收集的数据。数据通过平均持续45分钟的面对面结构化访谈收集，并进行描述性、相关性和组间分析。
研究结果揭示了参与者在与这两类压力源相关的困扰方面的经历，并表明很大一部分参与者正经历着心理困扰，其程度据报道已导致他们在一个或多个日常生活领域出现损害。
这些研究结果支持了气候变化对心理健康构成风险这一说法，并迫使决策者在构思与气候相关的危害或计算不作为的代价时考虑这些风险。
