Daeninck Cami, Kioupi Vasiliki, Vercammen Ans
Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
Institute of Education, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jul 26;14:1126031. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1126031. eCollection 2023.
There is increasing recognition of the mental health burden of climate change and the effects on general well-being, even in those who have not (yet) experienced direct impacts. Climate anxiety, which is prominent among young people in particular, describes a state of heightened distress about the (future) effects of climate change. Despite evidence of a link between engagement in climate change issues and heightened climate anxiety, there is a dearth of knowledge on how this affects emerging professionals preparing for careers in the environmental sector. Furthermore, there is a paucity of literature regarding the extent to which young adults are coping with their thoughts and feelings about climate change, and the extent to which they consider climate change in making future plans.
The aim of this study was to understand the occurrence and personal management of climate anxiety in UK university students through an online questionnaire. This study was the first to investigate the association between climate anxiety, coping strategies and future planning in university students.
Environmental degree students ( = 249) reported greater levels of climate anxiety, more frequent employment of all three examined coping strategies and in particular considered climate change as a factor in their career plans, as compared to their non-environmental degree counterparts ( = 224). Problem-focused coping was the most commonly endorsed strategy, although the prior literature on coping suggests that this may not be sustainable for individually intractable problems. Highly climate-anxious students were more likely to consider climate change in all five decision-making domains, including family planning, long-term habitation, career, financial and travel decisions. This study has identified a need to communicate effective climate anxiety coping strategies to environmental practitioners, university students and educators. Additional research is required to validate the study findings and investigate what motivates students to incorporate climate change into future plans.
气候变化对心理健康的负担以及对总体幸福感的影响日益受到关注，即便在那些尚未经历直接影响的人群中也是如此。气候焦虑在年轻人中尤为突出，它描述的是一种对气候变化（未来）影响的极度痛苦状态。尽管有证据表明参与气候变化问题与加剧的气候焦虑之间存在联系，但对于这如何影响准备从事环境领域职业的新兴专业人士，我们所知甚少。此外，关于年轻人应对气候变化相关想法和感受的程度，以及他们在制定未来计划时考虑气候变化的程度，相关文献也很匮乏。
本研究旨在通过在线问卷了解英国大学生气候焦虑的发生情况及个人应对方式。本研究首次调查了大学生中气候焦虑、应对策略与未来规划之间的关联。
与非环境专业学位的学生（n = 224）相比，环境专业学位的学生（n = 249）报告的气候焦虑水平更高，更频繁地采用所有三种被考察的应对策略，尤其是将气候变化视为其职业规划中的一个因素。聚焦问题的应对是最常被认可的策略，尽管先前关于应对的文献表明，对于个体难以解决的问题，这种策略可能不可持续。气候焦虑程度高的学生在包括计划生育、长期居住、职业、财务和旅行决策在内的所有五个决策领域中，更有可能考虑气候变化。本研究确定有必要向环境从业者、大学生和教育工作者传达有效的气候焦虑应对策略。需要进一步的研究来验证研究结果，并调查是什么促使学生将气候变化纳入未来计划。
