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Psychological Distress and Increased Climate Action
Provided by: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |Published on: February 4, 2025
Scientific Reports
9101112AP
Synopsis
In this Yale report, students will learn about the connection between climate anxiety and the desire to participate in climate action.
Students will also see how people experience more or less climate-induced psychological distress depending on their political views, gender, age, race, or socioeconomic status.
Authors: Matthew T. Ballew, Sri Saahitya Uppalapati, Teresa Myers, Jennifer Carman, Eryn Campbell, Seth A. Rosenthal, John E. Kotcher, Anthony Leiserowitz & Edward Maibach
This study may comfort students who are feeling anxious and depressed about climate change as they learn that others feel this way, too.
The study emphasizes action as a way to cope with climate anxiety.
Prerequisites
Students should understand climate change and its impacts.
Students should be familiar with scientific reports and technical writing.
Differentiation & Implementation
Teachers and students can work together to create a guide for students who feel anxious about climate change, depending on their stress response. For example, students who feel compelled to act when learning about climate change may benefit from resources in the Civics and Climate Action Student Lab, while students who feel paralyzed when learning about climate change may first need to process with the Climate Emotions Wheel.
If students have never read a scientific report before, teachers may want to incorporate a few reports from Project Drawdown's Table of Solutions before beginning with this report to familiarize students with the structure.
After reading the section about the connection between high levels of climate anxiety and the willingness to engage in discussion about climate change, the video The Key to Fighting Climate Change: Talk About It may help solidify the importance of talking about climate change, an idea the report touches on.
Some students may benefit from reading just the Abstract or Results sections, as the Methods section (especially the Analysis subsection) has a lot of content-specific and technical terms.
Using Figure 1 as a reference, students can hypothesize why certain groups have higher percentages of climate anxiety compared to others.
Scientist Notes
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
About the Partner Provider
Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication conducts scientific research on public opinion and behavior. They also engage the public in climate change science and solutions, in partnerships with governments, media, companies, and civil society.
Related Teaching Resources
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