TY - JOUR
T1 - Review
T2 - The impact of climate change awareness on children's mental well-being and negative emotions – a scoping review
AU - Martin, Gina
AU - Reilly, Kristen
AU - Everitt, Haley
AU - Gilliland, Jason A.
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully thank the Children’s Health Research Institute and Western University for providing postdoctoral funding for G.M. and K.R. Author contributions are as follows: G.M., K.R., and J.G. conceptualized the review and wrote the protocol. G.M. and H.E. conducted title and abstract screening. G.M. did the initial data extraction which was confirmed by K.R. G.M. wrote the initial draft of the manuscript; K.R., H.E., and J.G. all edited and contributed to the final manuscript. The authors have declared that they have no competing or potential conflicts of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Child and Adolescent Mental Health published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - Background: Climate change is a threat to children’s physical health, but there are also implications for mental well-being. Additionally, children may experience negative emotional responses stemming from an overarching awareness of the imminent threats to the planet due to climate change. Method: Using a scoping review, we examined the impact of climate change awareness on children’s mental well-being and negative emotions. Our aim was to identify and describe the existing literature and highlight priorities for future research. Three specific objectives guided the review: (1) to identify and provide an overview of research regarding the impact of climate change awareness on children’s mental well-being and negative emotions; (2) to summarize and clarify the terminology related to climate change awareness and children’s mental well-being and negative emotions; and (3) to make recommendations for areas of future research. Results: Thirty-three articles were included in a narrative synthesis. Many articles were reviews or editorials/commentaries. Of the empirical research, most were from Europe, North America, and Australia. The articles emphasized a large range of negative emotions that children felt about climate change, with anxiety and worry being the most researched and discussed. Conclusions: The research on the impact of awareness of climate change on children’s mental well-being and negative emotions is in its early phases. Efforts are needed to advance conceptual clarity and operationalize concepts. Additionally, there is a need for research into the impact of climate change awareness on children’s mental well-being and negative emotions among a greater diversity of people and places. Existing studies provide an encouraging basis from which to develop future research.
AB - Background: Climate change is a threat to children’s physical health, but there are also implications for mental well-being. Additionally, children may experience negative emotional responses stemming from an overarching awareness of the imminent threats to the planet due to climate change. Method: Using a scoping review, we examined the impact of climate change awareness on children’s mental well-being and negative emotions. Our aim was to identify and describe the existing literature and highlight priorities for future research. Three specific objectives guided the review: (1) to identify and provide an overview of research regarding the impact of climate change awareness on children’s mental well-being and negative emotions; (2) to summarize and clarify the terminology related to climate change awareness and children’s mental well-being and negative emotions; and (3) to make recommendations for areas of future research. Results: Thirty-three articles were included in a narrative synthesis. Many articles were reviews or editorials/commentaries. Of the empirical research, most were from Europe, North America, and Australia. The articles emphasized a large range of negative emotions that children felt about climate change, with anxiety and worry being the most researched and discussed. Conclusions: The research on the impact of awareness of climate change on children’s mental well-being and negative emotions is in its early phases. Efforts are needed to advance conceptual clarity and operationalize concepts. Additionally, there is a need for research into the impact of climate change awareness on children’s mental well-being and negative emotions among a greater diversity of people and places. Existing studies provide an encouraging basis from which to develop future research.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85120547237&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/camh.12525
DO - 10.1111/camh.12525
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34873823
AN - SCOPUS:85120547237
SN - 1475-357X
VL - 27
SP - 59
EP - 72
JO - Child and Adolescent Mental Health
JF - Child and Adolescent Mental Health
IS - 1
ER -