Young People and Climate Change

This project addresses climate change related emotions and cognitions, as well as their role in climate engagement and wellbeing, in Finnish youth. In addition, we explore different possible resilience factors, such as nature connectedness and constructive thinking strategies, that can prevent low mental wellbeing and promote climate engagement.

Project information

Project duration

-

Funded by

Multiple sources

Project coordinator

University of Oulu

Project description

Our research addresses climate change related emotions and cognitions, and their role in climate engagement and wellbeing in Finnish youth. More specifically, we study:

  • the significance of climate emotionality, such as climate worry and climate hopelessness, for subjective wellbeing in general and climate engagement (private sphere and collective).
  • different possible resilience factors that can prevent low mental wellbeing and promote climate engagement. The resilience factors we study include nature connectedness, nature contact, meaning-focused coping, dialectical thinking, hope, social trust, and trust in technological solutions to the climate problem.

Research data are collected via online surveys from Finnish late adolescents aged 16–18 years studying in upper secondary education.