'Mental health crisis' among young people living in countries worst affected by climate change
The UN says Madagascar’s 32 million inhabitants are 'highly vulnerable' to climate change due to severe impacts on water and subsistence agriculture, and food security. Picture: AP /Alexander Joe
A "mental health crisis" is happening among young people living in countries being most acutely affected by droughts, food insecurity, extreme weather events, and other impacts of climate change, according to a Trinity College Dublin-led study.
The report, published this week in the , outlines how climate change is not just an environmental issue, but also something which is having a “severe” impact on the mental health of adolescents facing an uncertain future.
For their mixed-methods study, the research team gathered survey data from 83 adolescents and focus groups, with 48 participants across six rural villages of southern Madagascar in March 2024.
According to the UN, the Indian Ocean island nation is the fourth most climate change-affected country on earth.
The UN says Madagascar’s 32 million inhabitants are “highly vulnerable” to climate change due to severe impacts on water and subsistence agriculture, and food security.
Some 90% of Malagasy households were reportedly out of food in the past year, with 69% of adolescents going an entire day without eating.
With a gross national income of $487 per capita, Madagascar is also among the world's least developed nations.
The research team says young people living in its southernmost region — one of the most severely climate change-affected areas in the world — report “extremely high” levels of anxiety, depression, and climate change worry, with many describing a sense of hopelessness about the future.
One adolescent told researchers: “I have no idea what I can do to be happy,” while another simply stated their life is "a misery”.
Overall, the study, led by researchers in TCD’s School of Psychology together with colleagues in the Catholic University of Madagascar, Queen Mary University of London, University College London, and CBM Global, found climate change affected adolescent mental health in three main ways: loss of household resources, uncertainty about the future, and disruption of coping mechanisms.
Many participants expressed deep distress over the struggles of their families and communities; most had witnessed people in their communities starve to death.
“Adolescents in Androy, southern Madagascar, speak of famine, fear, and futures stolen by drought and sandstorms,” said Dr Nambinina Rasolomalala of the Catholic University of Madagascar.
“With crops failing and water scarce, many adolescents are forced to leave their communities to survive, while those who stay face hunger, lost education, and deep despair."
The paper’s lead author, TCD’s Dr Kristin Hadfield, described young people in southern Madagascar as “unwilling pioneers of the impact of climate change” and said the study could provide "important insights into the way climate changes impact on adolescent mental health".
CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB
