IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v177y2024i10d10.1007_s10584-024-03807-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Association of youth climate change worry with present and past mental health symptoms: a longitudinal population-based study

Author

Listed:
  • Francis Vergunst

    (University of Oslo)

  • Caitlin M. Prentice

    (University of Oslo)

  • Massimiliano Orri

    (University of Montreal
    McGill University)

  • Helen L. Berry

    (Macquarie University)

  • Vincent Paquin

    (McGill University)

  • Frank Vitaro

    (University of Montreal)

  • Richard Tremblay

    (Ste-Justine University Hospital Research Center
    University of Montreal)

  • Sylvana M. Côté

    (Ste-Justine University Hospital Research Center
    University of Bordeaux)

  • Marie-Claude Geoffroy

    (McGill University)

Abstract

Young people are worried about climate change but the association with current and past mental health symptoms is rarely examined in longitudinal population-based samples. Drawing on a population-based birth cohort from the Canadian province of Quebec (n = 1325), this study used a cross-over design to (1) test the association between climate change worry at age 23-years and concurrent mental health symptoms assessed on standardised instruments, and (2) test the association between adolescent (15 and 17 years) symptoms of anxiety, depression, inattention-hyperactivity, and aggression-opposition and climate worry at age 23-years. Participant sex, cognitive ability, socioeconomic status, and parental mental health were adjusted for. Descriptive statistics showed that most participants were worried about climate change: 190 (14.3%) were extremely worried, 383 (28.9%) were very worried, 553 (41.7%) were somewhat worried, and 199 (15.0%) were not at all worried. In analysis 1, worry about climate change was associated with significantly higher concurrent anxiety, depression, and self-harm symptoms, even after adjustment for adolescent symptoms. In analysis 2, anxious adolescents were significantly more likely to be extremely worried about climate change six years later (RRR = 1.51, 95%CI = 1.10–2.07), while aggressive-oppositional adolescents were significantly less likely to be somewhat worried (RRR = 0.79, 95%CI = 0.63–0.0.99), very worried (RRR = 0.61, 95%CI = 0.48–0.78), or extremely worried (RRR = 0.51, 95%CI = 0.37–0.72). Taken together, participants who were worried about climate change had more concurrent mental health symptoms but were also more likely to have prior symptoms. Adolescents with higher anxiety were more likely to worry about climate change in early adulthood, while those with higher aggression-opposition were less likely to worry. Future studies should track climate worry longitudinally alongside symptoms using prospective follow-up studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Francis Vergunst & Caitlin M. Prentice & Massimiliano Orri & Helen L. Berry & Vincent Paquin & Frank Vitaro & Richard Tremblay & Sylvana M. Côté & Marie-Claude Geoffroy, 2024. "Association of youth climate change worry with present and past mental health symptoms: a longitudinal population-based study," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(10), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:177:y:2024:i:10:d:10.1007_s10584-024-03807-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-024-03807-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-024-03807-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-024-03807-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ferro, M.A. & Gorter, J.W. & Boyle, M.H., 2015. "Trajectories of depressive symptoms in Canadian emerging adults," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(11), pages 2322-2327.
    2. Nick Obradovich & Scott M. Guenther, 2016. "Collective responsibility amplifies mitigation behaviors," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 307-319, July.
    3. Jones, Shayne E. & Miller, Joshua D. & Lynam, Donald R., 2011. "Personality, antisocial behavior, and aggression: A meta-analytic review," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 329-337, July.
    4. Caitlin M. Prentice & Francis Vergunst & Kelton Minor & Helen L. Berry, 2024. "Education outcomes in the era of global climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 14(3), pages 214-224, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vize, Colin E. & Miller, Joshua D. & Lynam, Donald R., 2018. "FFM facets and their relations with different forms of antisocial behavior: An expanded meta-analysis," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 67-75.
    2. Chen, Chia-Yi & Lien, Yin-Ju, 2018. "Trajectories of co-occurrence of depressive symptoms and deviant behaviors: The influences of perceived social support and personal characteristics," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 174-182.
    3. Adelle Thomas & Lisa Benjamin, 2018. "Perceptions of climate change risk in The Bahamas," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(1), pages 63-72, March.
    4. Ribeiro da Silva, Diana & Rijo, Daniel & Salekin, Randall T., 2012. "Child and adolescent psychopathy: A state-of-the-art reflection on the construct and etiological theories," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 269-277.
    5. Seigfried-Spellar, Kathryn C. & Villacís-Vukadinović, Nicolás & Lynam, Donald R., 2017. "Computer criminal behavior is related to psychopathy and other antisocial behavior," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 67-73.
    6. DeLisi, Matt & Vaughn, Michael G., 2014. "Foundation for a temperament-based theory of antisocial behavior and criminal justice system involvement," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 10-25.
    7. Joseph P. Lavallee & Bruno Giusto & Tai-Yi Yu, 2019. "Collective responsibility framing also leads to mitigation behavior in East Asia: a replication study in Taiwan," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 423-438, April.
    8. D. Liliana González-Hernández & Erik W. Meijles & Frank Vanclay, 2019. "Household Barriers to Climate Change Action: Perspectives from Nuevo Leon, Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-14, August.
    9. Shegang Zhou & Lin Jin & Xiaoxian Liu & Xiaosheng Ding & Xiangru Zhu, 2022. "Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms in Chinese College Students: Latent Classes and Gender Effect," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-12, March.
    10. Joshua C Gray & Max M Owens & Courtland S Hyatt & Joshua D Miller, 2018. "No evidence for morphometric associations of the amygdala and hippocampus with the five-factor model personality traits in relatively healthy young adults," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-15, September.
    11. Jackie Parker & Greg D Simpson & Jonathon Edward Miller, 2020. "Nature-Based Solutions Forming Urban Intervention Approaches to Anthropogenic Climate Change: A Quantitative Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    12. Samantha L. Chown & Dillon T. Browne & Scott T. Leatherdale & Mark A. Ferro, 2022. "Psychopathology among Emerging Adults with Learning Disabilities in Canada," Disabilities, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-11, October.
    13. Monika Verbalyte & Christoph Keitel & Krista Howard, 2022. "Online Trolls: Unaffectionate Psychopaths or Just Lonely Outcasts and Angry Partisans?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 396-410.
    14. Collison, Katherine L. & Miller, Joshua D. & Gaughan, Eric T. & Widiger, Thomas A. & Lynam, Donald R., 2016. "Development and validation of the super-short form of the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 143-150.
    15. Halibiyati, Halibati & Aratuly, Kuanysh & Serikhan, Adilgazy & Yergali, Adlet M. & Beaver, Kevin M., 2024. "Neuropsychological functioning and its association with juvenile arrest and adulthood incarceration: Findings from a longitudinal sample of youth," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    16. Garofalo, Carlo & Velotti, Patrizia, 2017. "Negative emotionality and aggression in violent offenders: The moderating role of emotion dysregulation," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 9-16.
    17. Jones, Shayne & Dinkins, Barbara & Sleep, Chelsea E. & Lynam, Donald R. & Miller, Joshua D., 2021. "The Add Health psychopathy scale: Assessing its construct validity," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    18. Fox, Bryanna H. & Jennings, Wesley G. & Farrington, David P., 2015. "Bringing psychopathy into developmental and life-course criminology theories and research," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 274-289.
    19. Long Huang & Wansheng Lei & Fuming Xu & Hairong Liu & Liang Yu & Fujun Shi & Lei Wang, 2020. "Maxims nudge equitable or efficient choices in a Trade-Off Game," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-13, June.
    20. Nicole H. O’Donnell & Jeanine P. D. Guidry, 2022. "Beyond Personal Responsibility: Analyzing How Attributing Responsibility for Environmental Protection Can Hinder Action," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-15, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:177:y:2024:i:10:d:10.1007_s10584-024-03807-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.