Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Department for General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Heidelberg University Hospital, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 27;19(15):9142. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159142.
Climate change has drastic consequences on human physical and mental health. However, research on the psychological effects of climate change awareness is still inconclusive. To examine the mental burden posed by climate change awareness and potential resilience factors, = 203 medical students were surveyed about their awareness of the implications of climate change. Furthermore, well-established mental health questionnaires (PHQ-9, GAD-7, PTSS-10, PSQ-20) were presented twice, in their original form and in a modified version to specifically ask about the respective psychological burden regarding climate change. For identification of potential resilience factors, measures for attachment style (RQ), structural abilities (OPD-SF), and sense of coherence (SOC-13) were used. The results of our study suggest that medical students in Germany have an increased risk to suffer from mental health problems and predominantly experience significant perceived stress in regard to climate change. However, the reported stress does not yet translate into depressive, anxious, or traumatic symptoms. Climate-related perceived stress correlates negatively with potential resilience factors preventing the development of mental disorders such as attachment style, structural abilities, and sense of coherence.
气候变化对人类身心健康有重大影响。然而，关于气候变化意识的心理影响的研究仍然没有定论。为了研究气候变化意识带来的心理负担和潜在的适应因素，我们对 203 名医学生进行了调查，了解他们对气候变化影响的认识。此外，还使用了经过验证的心理健康问卷（PHQ-9、GAD-7、PTSS-10、PSQ-20），两次以原始形式和修改后的形式呈现，专门询问与气候变化相关的各自心理负担。为了确定潜在的适应因素，使用了依恋风格（RQ）、结构能力（OPD-SF）和心理一致感（SOC-13）的测量方法。我们的研究结果表明，德国医学生患心理健康问题的风险增加，并且主要在气候变化方面经历显著的感知压力。然而，报告的压力尚未转化为抑郁、焦虑或创伤后应激症状。与气候相关的感知压力与潜在的适应因素呈负相关，这些因素可以预防精神障碍的发展，如依恋风格、结构能力和心理一致感。
