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How children make sense of climate change: A descriptive qualitative study of eco-anxiety in parent-child dyads

The climate crisis not only has significant impacts on biodiversity and the physical health of humans, but its ramifications are also affecting people’s mental health. Eco-anxiety, or the emotions that emerge with the awareness of climate change and the apprehension of its detrimental effects, has b...

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Autores principales: Léger-Goodes, Terra, Malboeuf-Hurtubise, Catherine, Hurtubise, Karen, Simons, Kyra, Boucher, Amélie, Paradis, Pier-Olivier, Herba, Catherine M., Camden, Chantal, Généreux, Mélissa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10118127/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37079612
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284774
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author Léger-Goodes, Terra
Malboeuf-Hurtubise, Catherine
Hurtubise, Karen
Simons, Kyra
Boucher, Amélie
Paradis, Pier-Olivier
Herba, Catherine M.
Camden, Chantal
Généreux, Mélissa
author_facet Léger-Goodes, Terra
Malboeuf-Hurtubise, Catherine
Hurtubise, Karen
Simons, Kyra
Boucher, Amélie
Paradis, Pier-Olivier
Herba, Catherine M.
Camden, Chantal
Généreux, Mélissa
author_sort Léger-Goodes, Terra
collection PubMed
description The climate crisis not only has significant impacts on biodiversity and the physical health of humans, but its ramifications are also affecting people’s mental health. Eco-anxiety, or the emotions that emerge with the awareness of climate change and the apprehension of its detrimental effects, has been investigated in adults and adolescents, but much less attention has been given to the impacts on children’s mental health and well-being. Initial evidence confirms that youth are significantly concerned about climate change, but few studies have investigated the resulting emotional responses of children and the role of their parents in tempering these, especially using qualitative methodologies. The present study used a descriptive qualitative design with a convenience sample of parents and child dyads, assessed separately. Children’s (n = 15, ages 8–12 years) experiences were explored using semi-structured interviews and their parents’ (n = 12) perceptions were captured using a survey with closed and open-ended questions. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data, and content analysis was used to investigate parent-child experiences. Three themes emerged from the thematic analysis: 1. children’s understanding of climate change, 2. their emotional reaction to climate change, and 3. their coping mechanisms to deal with these emotions. The comparative content analysis revealed that parents who were aware that their children had concerns about climate change, had children who used more adaptive coping mechanisms. The results of this qualitative study contribute to a better understanding of children’s emotional experience of the awareness of climate change in Canada and how they cope with these emotions. Furthermore, the results provide insight into the role parents might play in helping their children cope with their feelings.
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spelling pubmed-101181272023-04-21 How children make sense of climate change: A descriptive qualitative study of eco-anxiety in parent-child dyads Léger-Goodes, Terra Malboeuf-Hurtubise, Catherine Hurtubise, Karen Simons, Kyra Boucher, Amélie Paradis, Pier-Olivier Herba, Catherine M. Camden, Chantal Généreux, Mélissa PLoS One Research Article The climate crisis not only has significant impacts on biodiversity and the physical health of humans, but its ramifications are also affecting people’s mental health. Eco-anxiety, or the emotions that emerge with the awareness of climate change and the apprehension of its detrimental effects, has been investigated in adults and adolescents, but much less attention has been given to the impacts on children’s mental health and well-being. Initial evidence confirms that youth are significantly concerned about climate change, but few studies have investigated the resulting emotional responses of children and the role of their parents in tempering these, especially using qualitative methodologies. The present study used a descriptive qualitative design with a convenience sample of parents and child dyads, assessed separately. Children’s (n = 15, ages 8–12 years) experiences were explored using semi-structured interviews and their parents’ (n = 12) perceptions were captured using a survey with closed and open-ended questions. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data, and content analysis was used to investigate parent-child experiences. Three themes emerged from the thematic analysis: 1. children’s understanding of climate change, 2. their emotional reaction to climate change, and 3. their coping mechanisms to deal with these emotions. The comparative content analysis revealed that parents who were aware that their children had concerns about climate change, had children who used more adaptive coping mechanisms. The results of this qualitative study contribute to a better understanding of children’s emotional experience of the awareness of climate change in Canada and how they cope with these emotions. Furthermore, the results provide insight into the role parents might play in helping their children cope with their feelings. Public Library of Science 2023-04-20 /pmc/articles/PMC10118127/ /pubmed/37079612 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284774 Text en © 2023 Léger-Goodes et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Léger-Goodes, Terra
Malboeuf-Hurtubise, Catherine
Hurtubise, Karen
Simons, Kyra
Boucher, Amélie
Paradis, Pier-Olivier
Herba, Catherine M.
Camden, Chantal
Généreux, Mélissa
How children make sense of climate change: A descriptive qualitative study of eco-anxiety in parent-child dyads
title How children make sense of climate change: A descriptive qualitative study of eco-anxiety in parent-child dyads
title_full How children make sense of climate change: A descriptive qualitative study of eco-anxiety in parent-child dyads
title_fullStr How children make sense of climate change: A descriptive qualitative study of eco-anxiety in parent-child dyads
title_full_unstemmed How children make sense of climate change: A descriptive qualitative study of eco-anxiety in parent-child dyads
title_short How children make sense of climate change: A descriptive qualitative study of eco-anxiety in parent-child dyads
title_sort how children make sense of climate change: a descriptive qualitative study of eco-anxiety in parent-child dyads
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10118127/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37079612
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284774
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