New Report IDs Threats of Climate Change to Children, Youth

THURSDAY, Oct. 19, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Climate change poses a mental health and developmental threat to children and youth, according to a report released by the American Psychological Association (APA) and ecoAmerica.

Susan Clayton, Ph.D., from the College of Wooster in Ohio, and colleagues analyzed peer-reviewed research, agency reports, and other primary sources to provide a synopsis of both impacts of and responses to climate change and children's and youth's mental health.

The researchers found evidence that extreme weather events resulting from climate change can interrupt normal fetal development and lead to a greater risk for anxiety or depressive disorder, attention-deficit disorder, educational deficits, and lower levels of self-control, as well as psychiatric disorders later in life. Furthermore, climate change may exacerbate social determinants of health in certain populations of children, making them more vulnerable to unequal burdens due to poverty. Identified solutions to support children and youth mental health include: systems-level solutions to tackle climate change at its root; community solutions to increase resilience, meet children’s basic needs, and increase access to mental health care; school-based support and opportunities for action; screenings by health care professionals to identify climate-related distress and subsequent interventions; and parental support to teach their children about climate change, manage their fears, find hope, take age-appropriate action, and nurture their capacity for resilience.

"Since the publication of the 2021 report, concerns about the mental health impacts of climate change have grown among scientists, health professionals, policymakers and the public, and the effects on children and youth are more pronounced," APA CEO Arthur C. Evans Jr., Ph.D., said in a statement. "Psychology, as the science of behavior, will be pivotal to making the wholesale changes that are imperative to slow and, we hope, stop its advance."

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