Climate Change Related Depression, Anxiety and Stress Symptoms Perceived by Medical Students

Lukas Schwaab, Nadja Gebhardt, Hans-Christoph Friederich and Christoph Nikendei
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Lukas Schwaab: Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Department for General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Heidelberg University Hospital, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany
Nadja Gebhardt: Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Department for General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Heidelberg University Hospital, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany
Hans-Christoph Friederich: Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Department for General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Heidelberg University Hospital, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany
Christoph Nikendei: Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Department for General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Heidelberg University Hospital, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-13

Abstract: Climate change has drastic consequences on human physical and mental health. However, research on the psychological effects of climate change awareness is still inconclusive. To examine the mental burden posed by climate change awareness and potential resilience factors, n = 203 medical students were surveyed about their awareness of the implications of climate change. Furthermore, well-established mental health questionnaires (PHQ-9, GAD-7, PTSS-10, PSQ-20) were presented twice, in their original form and in a modified version to specifically ask about the respective psychological burden regarding climate change. For identification of potential resilience factors, measures for attachment style (RQ), structural abilities (OPD-SF), and sense of coherence (SOC-13) were used. The results of our study suggest that medical students in Germany have an increased risk to suffer from mental health problems and predominantly experience significant perceived stress in regard to climate change. However, the reported stress does not yet translate into depressive, anxious, or traumatic symptoms. Climate-related perceived stress correlates negatively with potential resilience factors preventing the development of mental disorders such as attachment style, structural abilities, and sense of coherence.

Keywords: climate change; climate change-related mental burden; mental health; depression; anxiety; perceived distress; resilience factors; climate-related distress; climate anxiety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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