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International Journal of
Population Studies Children coping with climate change anxiety

2018; Rao & Powell, 2021). Local or national museums or generation who are required to spearhead the combat
community venues should be encouraged to host projects against the imminent crisis has augmented the levels of
specifically on sustainability to deepen the understanding climate change anxiety. Despite the availability of coping
of children about sustainability since they are young strategies and supportive interventions, further empirical
(Engdahl, 2015). Parents can also encourage their children research evidence is still needed to help formulate
to join relevant organizations dedicated to promoting strategies for reducing the impact of climate change
sustainability or upholding the climate change agenda to anxiety and preparing our children for the future world
help boost their confidence. The key is to help children where combating the environmental and climatic issues
to identify the main figures and organizations who are head-on is an unavoidable task for everyone.
contributing to positive change in the environment at
the local, national, or international level (Burke et al., Acknowledgments
2018). In addition, parents may support their children to None.
engage in actions that cultivate climate change awareness;
participating in local conservation projects that promote Funding
environmentally friendly practices or involving in the None.
conceptualization of environmental projects are among the
recommended actions that can be performed together with Conflict of interest
their peers (Kurup et al., 2021). Finally, it is imperative to
amplify children’s voices and involve them in developing The authors declare no competing interest.
and influencing environmental policy for the future Author contributions
(Thompson et al., 2022).
Conceptualization: Jessica Eve Jackson, Rebecca Rawson
5. Addressing research gaps Writing – original draft: All authors
Since the prevailing attitudes toward climate change Writing – review and editing: Jessica Eve Jackson, Rebecca
(Fisher et al., 2018) and the eco-behaviors being modeled Rawson, Rory Colman
at home are rather diverse (Rhead et al., 2015), and the
parents are at heightened risk of climate change anxiety Ethics approval and consent to participate
(Ekholm & Ollafsson, 2017), it is vital that a consistent
evidence-based approach be adopted to address its Not applicable.
psychological effects. Such an approach should attempt Consent for publication
to bridge the generational gap perceived by children, by
developing a shared understanding through parent-child Not applicable.
communication (Hickman, 2020; Jackson et al., 2022;
Spiteri, 2020). Therefore, there is an urgent need for further Availability of data
empirical research into the emotional impact of climate Not applicable.
change on children. This call is supported by Helldén
et al. (2021) who highlighted the lack of research attention References
afforded to health impact of climate change, and by Baker, C., Clayton, S., & Bragg, E. (2021). Educating for resilience:
Charlson et al. (2022) who propounded ten priority areas Parent and teacher perceptions of children’s emotional needs
for future research in this field. Further, considering the in response to climate change. Environmental Education
significant expectations placed on this population group as Research, 27(5):687-705.
tomorrow’s adults, Wu et al. (2020) advocate that “making https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1828288
investments to improve their mental health and well-being
will provide dividends now and, in the future”. This signals Berry, H.L., Waite, T.D., Dear, K.B.G., Capon, A.G., & Murray, V.
an essential need to offer preventative care for children in (2018). The case for systems thinking about climate change
terms of mental health (Kotera & Fido, 2022). and mental health. Nature Climate Change, 8:282-290.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0102-4
6. Conclusion
Budziszewska, M., & Jonsson, S.E. (2021). From climate anxiety to
Climate change presents a significant threat to the health climate action: An existential perspective on climate change
and well-being of children. Their growing understanding concerns within psychotherapy. Journal of Humanistic
of the human-induced impact on our planet and the Psychology.
realization of their unenviable position as the future https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167821993243

Volume 10 Issue 2 (2024) 74 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.0850