Climate change knowledge and stress: An exploratory survey of undergraduate college students

Previous research has documented the impact of climate change on mental health, but few studies have examined it as a source of stress among college students. To address the gap, this study aimed to explore intersections of climate change knowledge and climate change related stress among undergraduate college students.

A survey of 305 undergraduate college students collected data on demographic information, climate change knowledge, and stressors. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and an ordinal logistic regression model focused specifically on stress.

Greater than 95 % of students surveyed agreed that climate change is a real phenomenon and 89 % trust the data from climate scientists. Results found that students who were more stressed about climate change were significantly more likely to think about it impacting their future, change their career trajectory and make changes to their daily life. Students identified severe anxiety and depression as the most likely issues community members would face over the next 10 years because of climate change.

Findings indicate undergraduate students, who are generally informed about climate change, experience climate change as a source of stress. Climate change plays a crucial role in the lives of undergraduate students. As such, university planning should recognize the climate change, stress, and mental health nexus in recruitment and retention efforts of future student cohorts.