Vergunst Francis, Berry Helen L
Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Montreal.
Ste-Justine University Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Québec, Canada.
Clin Psychol Sci. 2022 Jul;10(4):767-785. doi: 10.1177/21677026211040787. Epub 2021 Sep 14.
Climate change is a major global public-health challenge that will have wide-ranging impacts on human psychological health and well-being. Children and adolescents are at particular risk because of their rapidly developing brain, vulnerability to disease, and limited capacity to avoid or adapt to threats and impacts. They are also more likely to worry about climate change than any other age group. Drawing on a developmental life-course perspective, we show that climate-change-related threats can additively, interactively, and cumulatively increase psychopathology risk from conception onward; that these effects are already occurring; and that they constitute an important threat to healthy human development worldwide. We then argue that monitoring, measuring, and mitigating these risks is a matter of social justice and a crucial long-term investment in developmental and mental health sciences. We conclude with a discussion of conceptual and measurement challenges and outline research priorities going forward.
气候变化是一项重大的全球公共卫生挑战，将对人类心理健康和幸福产生广泛影响。儿童和青少年面临特别风险，因为他们的大脑发育迅速、易患疾病，且避免或适应威胁和影响的能力有限。他们也比其他任何年龄组更有可能担心气候变化。从发展生命历程的角度来看，我们表明，与气候变化相关的威胁可以从受孕开始就以相加、交互和累积的方式增加精神病理学风险；这些影响已经在发生；并且它们对全球人类的健康发展构成了重要威胁。然后我们认为，监测、衡量和减轻这些风险是一个社会正义问题，也是对发展和精神健康科学的一项至关重要的长期投资。我们最后讨论了概念和测量方面的挑战，并概述了未来的研究重点。
