Multiple impacts found
The study measured how often the teens experienced four dimensions of eco-anxiety: affective symptoms (“not being able to stop or control worrying”), rumination (“unable to stop thinking about losses to the environment”), behavioural symptoms (“difficulty working and/or studying”) and personal impact anxiety (“feeling anxious about your personal responsibility to help address environmental problems”).
Among these dimensions, behavioural symptoms—that is, concrete disruption of daily tasks—emerged as the most significant. The mental well-being assessments also revealed clear psychological effects.
"Teens who reported being distracted at school and having difficulty concentrating or completing their school work also reported the lowest levels of well-being,” said Cárdenas Mesa. “They had lower life satisfaction, reduced happiness and more symptoms of depression, anxiety and loneliness.”
In short, eco-anxiety is real and is negatively impacting young people’s daily functioning and mental health.
Minoritized teens more affected
The results also show that eco-anxiety is more prevalent among teens from minoritized groups, such as nonbinary students, students whose parents don’t have a university degree, and students living with a disability.
Cárdenas Mesa believes this is due to the cumulative effect of multiple structural vulnerabilities, such as less power, fewer financial resources and less stability.
“Think of a person as a chair," she saisd. "A person with few vulnerabilities is like a chair with four strong, stable legs. But a person from a minoritized group is like a chair with bent legs, so any new stressor—a forest fire, an extreme weather event, an unusually high electricity bill—further destabilizes their fragile balance.”
Three ways to help
How can teens be helped to cope? In three ways, Cárdenas Mesa said.
First, normalize eco-anxiety. “It’s possible to be concerned about climate change without experiencing severe psychological distress,” she pointed out. “Concern is a healthy and legitimate reaction.”
Secondly, create spaces where teens can learn about eco-anxiety, talk about how it’s affecting them, and develop coping strategies.
Lastly, give more support to minoritized individuals, whose vulnerabilities put them at greater risk of behavioural and psychological consequences from eco-anxiety.
“More generally, we need to depoliticize the climate crisis,” said Cárdenas Mesa. “It’s a public health issue, not just a political issue. It’s about the future of humanity and so it concerns all of society.”
