With her doctoral thesis,
Climate change distress among young Finns has not previously been investigated this extensively. Between 650 and 3,000 adolescents took part in the sub-studies of the doctoral thesis and were monitored for as long as three years.
Young people react to climate change in very different ways
According to the study, some adolescents experience climate change distress, while others are indifferent or even deny the existence of climate change. Most of the Finnish adolescents studied do not experience climate change distress.
Climate change distress is not automatically a bad thing or a sign of poor wellbeing.
“Climate change distress is primarily a natural reaction that makes us think about our actions. It can either paralyse you or function as a motivating force, depending on how you address it,” Veijonaho says.
Most of the adolescents who experienced climate change distress also engaged in pro-environmental activities.
“However, climate change distress was associated with climate change denial in a small share of young people. They were not taking any climate action, and their general wellbeing was below average.”
Complex connection between climate change distress and climate action
Strong climate change distress and active climate agency are not mutually exclusive. Climate change distress and action were strongly associated, meaning that young people who experienced climate change distress carried out more pro-environmental actions.
However, from a longitudinal perspective, adolescents who experienced more climate change distress than usual reported fewer pro-environmental actions than usual a year later. In contrast, climate change distress increased in subsequent measurements among adolescents who reported more such actions than usual.
“While individual climate action is an important part of active climate citizenship, it is not a patent solution for the constructive handling of young people’s climate change distress. Undertaking climate action can increase individuals’ awareness of the scale of the problem and the efforts needed to bring about change, which further increases the anxiety. Pro-environmental behaviour can also increase climate change distress, as adolescents assume too much personal responsibility as individuals for a problem that cannot be solved through individual action,” Veijonaho says.
Similarly, sudden increases in climate change distress may immobilise adolescents, as the increasing demands of the circumstances exceed the resources normally available to them.
Young people’s hope and trust in society must be encouraged
Young people who report being hopeful and trustful about society respond differently: their increased climate change distress was associated with increasingly engaged pro-environmental action, yet this increased activity did not increase anxiety.
“Young people’s climate change distress need not be cured. Instead, it's more important to face it as it is and offer them ways to channel that anxiety constructively into action. For instance, collaborative environmental projects at school can boost young people’s agency and confidence in that communal action makes a difference.”
“It would be important to address climate change with young people so that they maintain their faith in the ability of societal operators to take action as well as their hope that we can still do something about it, even if the situation is serious.”