Climate emotions among Polish adolescents and students. Increase in emotional resources with age

Introduction and objective: Previous research shows that climate emotions can be associated with anxiety and mood disorders, and that the age group most sensitive to climate change are young people. The aim of this study was to determine the level of climate emotions among adolescents and university students, and to explore the type of relationship between climate emotions and levels of generalised anxiety and depression in this group, in search of explanatory mechanisms and protective factors. Materials and methods: The study involved 170 participants, including 66 adolescents (49 females, 14 males, and 3 non-binary individuals) aged 18 years, and 104 university students (including 79 females, 20 males, and 5 non-binary individuals) aged 18–33 years (M = 22.85; SD = 2.58). The following instruments were used: the Inventory of Climate Emotions (ICE) to measure climate emotions, the Brief Measure for Assessing Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) to determine the severity of generalised anxiety, and the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale (KADS) to measure depression risk. Results: The results indicate higher levels of climate anger and climate powerlessness among students and higher levels of climate contempt among adolescents. In addition, adolescents exhibited higher levels of generalised anxiety and depression than students. Regression analyses revealed that climate emotions are predictors of both generalised anxiety and depression in both study groups, but the patterns of these relationships are different. Conclusions: University students appear to cope with climate emotions and related distress more constructively than adolescents. To reduce the effects of climate anxiety and other emotions, it is worth focusing on strengthening young people’s individual and social resources.