Figueroa-Barra Alicia, Guerrero-Mardones David, Vargas-Castillo Camila, Millalonco-Martínez Luis, Roco-Videla Angel, Méndez Emmanuel, Flores-Carrasco Sergio
Departamento de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental Sur, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8900000, Chile.
Departamento de Lengua y Literatura, Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Santiago 8320000, Chile.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Aug 14;15(8):1102. doi: 10.3390/bs15081102.
Eco-anxiety and solastalgia are psychological responses to environmental degradation and climate change. This study examines how these concepts are represented in Spanish-language digital media, considering both emotional dimensions and the profiles of content producers.
We conducted an inductive qualitative content analysis of 120 Spanish-language items (online news articles and selected posts from digital platforms) published between October 2023 and March 2024. Items were identified using a Boolean search strategy and initially filtered by LIWC to detect high emotional-and-anxiety term density; final coding followed grounded-theory procedures, resulting in four thematic categories.
The most frequent theme was environmental activism (41%), followed by catastrophic thinking (29%), coping strategies (25%), and loss of meaningful places (6%). Among content producers, citizen participants represented 40%, youth activists 25%, and scientists 15%. Digital media function both as sources of anxiety-inducing content and as spaces for awareness-raising and support.
While eco-anxiety is not a clinical diagnosis, it exerts a significant psychological impact-particularly on youth and vulnerable groups. Spanish-language digital platforms play an ambivalent role, amplifying distress yet enabling resilience and collective action. Future interventions should leverage these channels to foster environmental awareness, emotional resilience, and civic engagement.
生态焦虑和家园丧失感是对环境退化和气候变化的心理反应。本研究考察了这些概念在西班牙语数字媒体中的呈现方式，同时考虑了情感维度和内容生产者的概况。
我们对2023年10月至2024年3月期间发表的120篇西班牙语文章（在线新闻报道和数字平台上的精选帖子）进行了归纳性定性内容分析。通过布尔搜索策略识别文章，并最初由语言内容分析软件（LIWC）进行筛选，以检测高情感和焦虑术语密度；最终编码遵循扎根理论程序，得出四个主题类别。
最常见的主题是环境行动主义（41%），其次是灾难化思维（29%）、应对策略（25%）和有意义场所的丧失（6%）。在内容生产者中，公民参与者占40%，青年活动家占25%，科学家占15%。数字媒体既是引发焦虑内容的来源，也是提高意识和提供支持的空间。
虽然生态焦虑不是一种临床诊断，但它会产生重大的心理影响——尤其是对青年和弱势群体。西班牙语数字平台发挥着矛盾的作用，加剧痛苦，但也能增强恢复力和集体行动能力。未来的干预措施应利用这些渠道来培养环境意识、情感恢复力和公民参与度。
