Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2024-09-10
Love of Nature in the Time of Climate Change: Environmental Science Undergraduates Report Higher Levels of Nature-Relatedness and Eco-Anxiety but Not Resilience
As younger populations of environmental scientists face an uncertain future in the context of alarming climate change data, building resilience is imperative for sustaining mental health, avoiding career burnout, and remaining innovative in climate change solution efforts. Research shows a higher prevalence of eco-anxiety among young people and individuals working in professions centered on environmental and climate change science. In contrast, studies have found that individuals scoring higher in nature-relatedness report lower generalized anxiety and score higher in resilience. This study addresses the intersection of these factors at the university undergraduate student level by comparing the eco-anxiety, nature-relatedness, and resilience of environmental science majors with nonenvironmental science majors. As hypothesized, surveys from 169 students at a mid-Atlantic State University reveal significantly higher levels of climate change anxiety reported by environmental science majors compared with nonenvironmental science majors [t(167) = 1.81, p < 0.05 (one-tailed test of significance)]. In addition, environmental science majors reported significantly higher levels of nature-relatedness [t(167) = 6.05, p < 0.001]. However, measured resilience levels in each group were not significantly different. Implications are explored regarding current environmental science curriculum practices and the possible benefits of incorporating psychological principles to increase resilience inside and outside of the classroom. Key Words: Eco-anxiety—Climate change—Resilience—Nature-relatedness—Environmental education—Pro-environmental behavior
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ÁgostonC., CsabaB., NagyB., et al. (2022). Identifying types of eco-anxiety, eco-guilt, eco-grief, and eco-coping in a climate-sensitive population: A Qualitative Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19, 2461; doi: 10.3390/ijerph19042461
2.
AlbrechtG., SartoreG.-M., ConnorL., et al. (2007). Solastalgia: The distress caused by environmental change. Australasian Psychiatry: bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, 15 Suppl 1, S95–S98; doi: 10.1080/10398560701701288
3.
BourqueF., & Cunsolo WilloxA. (2014). Climate change: The next challenge for public mental health? International Review of Psychiatry (Abingdon, England), 26, 415–422; doi: 10.3109/09540261.2014.925851
ClarkT. (2020). Ecological grief and Anthropocene horror. American Imago, 77, 61–80; doi: 10.1353/aim.2020.0003
6.
ClaytonS., & MyersG. (2015). Conservation Psychology: Understanding and Promoting Human Care For Nature (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
7.
ClaytonS., ManningC.M., KyrgsmanK., & SpeiserM.(2017).Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications, and Guidance, Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, and ecoAmerica.
8.
ClaytonS. (2018). Mental health risk and resilience among climate scientists. Nature Climate Change, 8, 260–261; doi: 10.1038/s41558-018-0123-z
9.
ClaytonS., & KarazsiaB. T. (2020). Development and validation of a measure of climate change anxiety. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 69, 101434; doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101434
10.
ClaytonS., ManningC. M., SpeiserM., et al. (2021). Mental Health And Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Inequities, Responses. American Psychological Association, and ecoAmerica: Washington, D.C.
11.
ConnorK. M., & DavidsonJ. R. T. (2003). Development of a new resilience scale: The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Depression and Anxiety, 18, 76–82; doi: 10.1002/da.10113
12.
CostelloA., AbbasM., AllenA., et al. (2009). Managing the health effects of climate change. Lancet (London, England), 373, 1693–1733.
13.
CunsoloA., & EllisN. R. (2018). Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss. Nature Climate Change, 8, 275–281; doi: 10.1038/s41558-018-0092-2
14.
DavenportL. (2017). Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change: A Clinician’s Guide. Jessica Kingsley Publishers: London, UK.
15.
DeanJ. H., ShanahanD. F., BushR., et al. (2018). Is nature relatedness associated with better mental and physical health? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15, 1371–1389; doi: 10.3390/ijerph15071371
16.
DohertyT. J., & ClaytonS. (2011). The psychological impacts of global climate change. The American Psychologist, 66, 265–276; doi: 10.1037/a0023141
17.
FieldingK. S., HornseyM. J., & SwimJ. K. (2014). Developing a social psychology of climate change: Editorial. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44, 413–420; doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2058
18.
FraserJ., PantescoV., PlemonsK., GuptaR., & RankS. J. (2013). Sustaining the conservationist. Ecopsychology, 5, 70–79; doi: 10.1089/eco.2012.0076
19.
FritzeJ. G., BlashkiG. A., BurkeS., et al. (2008). Hope, despair and transformation: Climate change and the promotion of mental health and wellbeing. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 2, 13; doi: 10.1186/1752-4458-2-13
20.
GilfordD., MoserS., DePodwinB., et al. (2019). The emotional toll of climate change on science professionals. Eos, 100; doi: 10.1029/2019EO137460
21.
HeadL., & HaradaT. (2017). Keeping the heart a long way from the brain: The emotional labour of climate scientists. Emotion, Space and Society, 24, 34–41; doi: 10.1016/j.emospa.2017.07.005
22.
HickmanC., MarksE., PihkalaP., et al. (2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: A global survey. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5, e863–e873; doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3
23.
HoggT. L., StanleyS. K., O’BrienL. V., et al. (2021). The Hogg Eco-Anxiety scale: Development and validation of a multidimensional scale. Global Environmental Change, 71, 102391; doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102391
24.
IngulliK., & LindbloomG. (2013). Connection to nature and psychological resilience. Ecopsychology, 5, 52–55; doi: 10.1089/eco.2012.0042
25.
JacobsonS. K., CarltonJ. S., & DevittS. E. C. (2012). Infusing the psychology of climate change into environmental curricula. Ecopsychology, 4, 94–101; doi: 10.1089/eco.2012.0014
26.
KellyA. (2017). Eco-Anxiety at university: Student experiences and academic perspectives on cultivating healthy emotional responses to the climate crisis. Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection, 2642. Project (ISP) Collection. 2642. Available from: https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/2642
27.
KurthC., & PihkalaP. (2022). Eco-anxiety: What it is and why it matters. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 981814; doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.981814
28.
LertzmanR. A. (2015). Environmental Melancholia: Psychoanalytic Dimensions of Engagement. Routledge: Hove, UK; New York, NY, USA.
29.
MacyJ. M., & JohnstoneC. (2022). Active hope: How to Face The Mess We’re In With Unexpected Resilience And Creative Power (Revised ed.). New World Library.
30.
MartynP., & BrymerE. (2016). The relationship between nature relatedness and anxiety. Journal of Health Psychology, 21, 1436–1445; doi: 10.1177/1359105314555169
31.
MateerT. J., MeltonT. N., MillerZ. D., et al. (2022). Pro-Environmental Behavior Scale. American Psychological Association; doi: 10.1037/t87178-000
32.
NairnK. (2019). Learning from young people engaged in climate activism: The potential of collectivizing despair and hope. YOUNG, 27, 435–450.
33.
NisbetE. K., ZelenskiJ. M., & MurphyS. A. (2009). The nature relatedness scale: Linking individuals’ connection with nature to environmental concern and behavior. Environment and Behavior, 41, 715–740; doi: 10.1177/0013916508318748
34.
OgunbodeC. A., PallesenS., BöhmG., et al. (2023). Negative emotions about climate change are related to insomnia symptoms and mental health: Cross-sectional evidence from 25 countries. Current Psychology, 42, 845–854; doi: 10.1007/s12144-021-01385-4
35.
OjalaM. (2012). Regulating worry, promoting hope: How do children, adolescents, and young adults cope with climate change? International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 7, 537–561.
36.
PihkalaP. (2020a). Anxiety and the ecological crisis: An analysis of eco-anxiety and climate anxiety. Sustainability, 12, 7836; doi: 10.3390/su12197836
PihkalaP. (2020c). The cost of bearing witness to the environmental crisis: Vicarious traumatization and dealing with secondary traumatic stress among environmental researchers. Social Epistemology, 34, 86–100; doi: 10.1080/02691728.2019.1681560
39.
RayS. J. (2018). Coming of age at the end of the world. In: BladowK. & LadinoJ. (eds.), Affective Ecocriticim (pp. 299–319). University of Nebraska Press.
SwimJ. K., SternP. C., DohertyT. J., et al. (2011). Psychology’s contributions to understanding and addressing global climate change. The American Psychologist, 66, 241–250; doi: 10.1037/a0023220
42.
ThompsonR., FisherH. L., DewaL. H., et al. (2022). Adolescents’ thoughts and feelings about the local and global environment: A Qualitative Interview Study. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 27, 4–13; doi: 10.1111/camh.12520
43.
Van SusterenL. (2018). The psychological impacts of the climate crisis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 15, 25–26.
44.
WallaceR. L., GreenburgJ., & ClarkS. G. (2020). Confronting anxiety and despair in environmental studies and sciences: An analysis and guide for students and faculty. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 10, 148–155; doi: 10.1007/s13412-020-00609-6
45.
WolfeS. E., & TubiA. (2019). Terror management theory and mortality awareness: A missing link in climate response studies? WIREs Climate Change, 10; doi: 10.1002/wcc.566
