Climate Change: How Does it Impact our Mental Health?
Student Summary by Jayden Ahn
Original Source: Suzanne M. Cosh, Sarah E. Williams, and others. Science Journal For Kids and Teens, September 2025
Image Created by Jayden Ahn
Abstract
Background: Many people around the world have anxiety, like a fear of spiders (arachnophobia) or tight spaces (claustrophobia). There's also a name for extreme worry about climate change: eco-anxiety. People with eco-anxiety worry about dangers like flooding and wildfires, about losing plants and animals, and about the future of life on Earth. It seems young people are mostly affected, and there is no clear way to identify the levels of eco-anxiety.
Objective: Scientists wanted to determine the severity of anxiety using the Climate Change Anxiety Scale (CCAS). They also wanted to find the cut-off scores, meaning where symptoms count as moderate and where they count as severe.
Method: The scientists surveyed 877 Australians between the ages of 16 and 25. The CCAS gives people 13 statements about climate change, such as having nightmares about it. People rate how often each one is true, from 1 (never) to 5 (almost always), and the ratings are added into a total score. Participants also took another questionnaire measuring anxiety, depression, and stress. Scientists compared the two to calculate sensitivity, how well the scale spots people who have symptoms, and specificity, how well it spots people who don't. The cut-offs were the totals where these two were closest together.
Results: A score of 21 meant mild to moderate symptoms of climate change anxiety, and a score of 23 or above meant severe symptoms. About 50% of the people tested scored at least 21, and about 44% scored at least 23.
Conclusion: Before this study, there was no agreed-upon score for identifying eco-anxiety. Now doctors and therapists have a number to compare against, so they can tell whether the help they give someone is working. If it is, that person's score should drop below the cut-off. Governments can use the scores the same way, to see whether their climate policies are helping people's mental health.
