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A new study published in the Lancet Planetary Health Journal looked at a global survey on climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change.

“We know from smaller studies that young people around the world experience climate anxiety and we also know that young people can feel betrayed by those in power who are failing to act on the climate crisis,” study author Elizabeth Marks told us. “However, large scale research was lacking and we wanted to know how widespread these experiences are.”

The study aimed to find out what proportion of young people (aged 16-25 years), in a wide variety of different countries around the world report climate anxiety, and what kinds of emotions, thoughts and functional impact it is associated with. Researchers also wanted to find out how young people think and feel about government (in)action on tackling climate change, and whether young people's climate anxiety is related to how they regard governmental responses to climate change. 

“The research was based on existing evidence that young people are particularly vulnerable to climate-related distress and that climate anxiety has been reported in many countries around the world,” Marks told us. “We therefore hypothesized that we would find evidence for climate anxiety in all countries we surveyed.”

The existing literature also indicates how many different emotions arise with climate anxiety: fear, anger, sadness, grief, guilt, depression, shame, that thoughts about the challenges of the future are common and that some young people have talked about how climate anxiety affects their daily functioning. They based their survey on the most widely reported emotions and thoughts linked to climate anxiety and hypothesized that these would also be present in a  proportion of their survey.

“The questions about how young people feel about government responses to climate change were based on qualitative reports that young people feel let down by government inaction, and the theory that government failure to prevent the harm arising from climate change can be experienced as a betrayal, which has the potential to cause moral distress,” Marks told us. "This was more of an exploratory research question than a hypothesis, as we were interested in finding out whether this theory was relevant to climate change, and whether it might be related to climate anxiety.”

Climate change is a huge threat to human health. Marks explained to us that most research has focused on the significant physical health impacts of climate change, but the psychological impacts are of equal importance and gravity. 

“It is essential to understand the ways in which climate change is affecting our mental health, and those of younger generations who have less power to make the changes that we need,” Marks told us. “Young people around the world are deeply concerned, we can see this in movements such as the youth strikes for climate and children taking governments to court for their failure to protect ecosystems and the future. Researchers have a responsibility to listen to young people, take their concerns seriously and find ways to support them.” 

Researchers in the current study developed a survey asking about thoughts, feelings and functional impacts of climate change and government inaction, which was based on existing literature. This survey was completed by 10,000 young people (1,000 in each of 10 countries) via an online platform. This survey aimed to gather data from participants who were representative of each country.   

The survey found that 60% of participants were 'very' or 'extremely' worried about climate change and that almost half (45%) found that this worry affected their normal, daily life. These levels tended to be higher in countries more directly affected by climate change already. As predicted, researchers found that climate anxiety was linked to many different challenging emotions such as feeling sad, afraid, angry, powerless, helpless, guilty. 

“Strikingly, we found that a large proportion of our whole sample agreed with a series of negative beliefs related to climate change, with 8 out of 10 saying that people have failed to take care of the planet, 3/4 saying that the future is frightening and over half saying that they believe humanity is doomed. We also found that 4 out of 10 said that they are hesitant to have their own children because of climate change.” 

Yet, despite these powerful thoughts and feelings, half of the sample (48%) said that when they try to talk about climate change, they are dismissed and ignored about others. 

“This links to my previous point about how important it is for all of us, including us researchers, to listen to young people,” Marks told us. “The beliefs endorsed about government action were also striking, with over half of our sample saying that, in relation to climate change, they believe governments are failing young people, lying about the impacts of the actions they are taking, dismissing their distress and betraying young people and future generations.”

Less than 1/3 believe governments are protecting them, can be trusted or are doing enough to prevent climate change. Feelings about governments were similar, and many young people described feeling let down by governments, and said they felt anguished, abandoned, afraid, angry, ashamed and belittled by government inaction. 

“There was some hope, as some people could feel reassured by governments. However, feelings of betrayal were greater than feelings of reassurance across the board,” Marks told us. “We also found that feelings of betrayal and beliefs about inadequate government action was associated with climate anxiety and with the impact this has on their daily functioning." 

Marks wasn’t surprised by the results but instead, dismayed by the sheer numbers of children and young people in the sample who reported climate anxiety and profoundly disturbing thoughts about what this means for them, their futures and those of new generations, and how let down they feel by those who should be protecting them - their governments. 

“We all have to take climate anxiety seriously,” Marks told us. “If children and young people in our life are concerned about the climate crisis, then it is important that we listen to their distress. This may well mean being in touch with our own distress too - it is not just young people who are concerned, many adults around the world also experience climate anxiety, which is challenging. However it is important to recognise that our distress is a sign that we care about the world, and about each other. Evidence suggests that when we come together and listen to one another, we can create supportive and helpful ways of responding to this distress, particularly as it means we don't feel so alone with difficult experiences.” 

Marks believes that researchers, clinicians and educators around the world have a responsibility to develop an understanding and awareness of this experience, and to then find what are the best ways of responding to it. 

“Most importantly, governments, global leaders and those in positions of power must regard these results as a call to action,” Marks told us. “We must place the voices of young people at the centre of decision making and bring all generations together to protect all of our futures. Yes, we need to find ways to support people who are experiencing this distress, but the only real 'cure' for climate anxiety will be urgent, decisive and effective action on climate change.”