Summary
Summary: The goal of this study is to identify factors associated with climate change anxiety among adolescents, assessing demographic, residential, and civic engagement. Researchers analyzed data files of 1,169 participants ages 12-17 from the 2021 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). Participants’ residential ZIP codes were categorized as urban or rural.
Climate change anxiety was based on a self-reported yes/no response to the survey question “Does the issue of climate change make you feel nervous, depressed, or emotionally stressed?”
Authors assessed the association between urbanicity or civic engagement with climate change anxiety, adjusting for age, sex, race and ethnicity, and household income. Approximately 10.3% of adolescents lived in rural ZIP codes while 89.7% of adolescents lived in urban ZIP codes.
Findings: Approximately 38.2% of adolescents reported climate change anxiety, with the prevalence of reported climate change anxiety higher among adolescents living in urban vs. rural ZIP codes. Living in rural vs. urban ZIP codes was associated with a 54% lower odds of climate change anxiety. Civic engagement was higher among adolescents in urban ZIP codes compared to those in rural ZIP codes. When looking at only adolescents living in urban ZIP codes, civic engagement was associated with an increased odds of climate change anxiety.
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