Jenna Spitzer’s research while affiliated with Utrecht University and other places

Climate change comprises acute shocks and protracted hazards that threaten societies, communities, and families worldwide. Still, little work has investigated the potential impacts of climate change on families, including the health and development of individual family members and the functioning of the family system. To synthesize what is known, we report findings from rapid reviews of the literature on climate change and families. We found extensive evidence on links between climate change and adverse physical (e.g. morbidity and mortality) and mental health (e.g. PTSD, depression, and anxiety) outcomes, and emerging evidence on associations with child developmental outcomes (including cognitive, social, and emotional skills). Furthermore, we found nascent evidence that climate change may be associated with outcomes for the family system as a whole, including increasing risk for early marriages, fertility decisions, migration, and negative effects on relationships and parenting practices. We also identified substantial gaps in the literature, including limited conceptual and measurement work, scarce qualitative studies, and issues related to the internal and external validity of prior quantitative work. Collectively, these findings can inform future research, policy, and practice aimed at understanding and addressing the consequences of climate change for families and promoting positive developmental trajectories in this context.

The world is becoming less livable due to climate change and the loss of nature. What can be done to stop this environmental crisis? What would empower young people to help protect the environment? Schools and clubs sometimes offer environmental education programs—lessons or activities to help young people understand the environment and its vulnerabilities, and what can be done to protect it. Do these environmental education programs work? To answer this question, we conducted a big summary of 169 studies, which included more than 176,000 young people from around the world. The results provide good news: environmental education generally helps young people to know about, care about, and do things to protect the environment. Our research also raises new questions. For example, now that you know environmental education can be effective, do you think it should be provided more often? Should environmental education be a required subject in school?

Climate change consists of a constellation of acute shocks and prolonged risks that threaten societies, communities, and families’ livelihoods and survival globally. The purpose of this report is to synthesize current scientific knowledge on the potential impacts of climate change on individual family members and the family system as a whole, and to identify policies and interventions that promote their resilience and well-being. To achieve this, we conducted three independent rapid reviews of the literature. Findings suggest that climate change is already affecting the health and development of family members, influencing reproductive health and gestational outcomes, increasing the risk of mortality, injury, and respiratory, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases, and exacerbating depression and anxiety It is also compromising children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development. Furthermore, there is emerging evidence that climate change may impact the family system as a whole, shifting fertility preferences, increasing the risk of early marriage, forced migration, family conflict, and separation, and negatively affecting familial relationships and parenting practices. However, some circumstances may bring family members closer as they navigate climate hazards. These impacts are not equally distributed but are context-specific, likely reflecting structural inequities. They tend to be more severe in low- and middle-income countries and for families facing pre-existing disadvantages and discrimination. Our findings also highlight policies and interventions that can help prevent families from experiencing the negative impacts of climate change, prepare them to face the impacts, support them as they encounter challenges, and engage families in policymaking and action to address climate change. Looking ahead, stronger policies are needed with attention to the specific needs of children and families. Additionally, evidence-based interventions must be expanded to mitigate the climate crisis and promote equity, preparedness, adaptation, resilience, and well-being in the context of climate change. Investing in and supporting bold research agendas and science-driven innovation are critical to ensuring a sustainable future for all.

Today's youth are growing up in a world threatened by climate change. Facing an uncertain future, young people—and especially adolescents—tend to be concerned about climate change, even more so than other age groups. How can socializing agents (e.g., educators, policymakers, clinicians) support and engage adolescents as they come of age in a warming world? In this article, we review studies on climate change and youth development from the perspective of self‐determination theory (SDT). SDT provides a framework for understanding a nascent body of literature on adolescents' responses to climate change. In particular, SDT offers insights into the factors that can facilitate or undermine adolescents' internalization of climate science, engagement in pro‐environmental behavior, and capacity for resilience and well‐being. We discuss SDT's potential to inform efforts to encourage positive youth development amid climate change, and we identify priorities for investigation.

De klimaatcrisis is één van de grootste uitdagingen van onze tijd. Wetenschappers zijn het er over eens dat het klimaat van de aarde op dit moment sneller verandert dan ooit, voor een groot deel als gevolg van de acties van mensen. Dit heeft belangrijke gevolgen voor ons allemaal, vooral voor jongeren, die de impact van de klimaatcrisis in hun toekomst nog sterker zullen ervaren. Met jongeren bedoelen wij mensen tussen de 12 en 28 jaar. Hoe beleven zij het om op te groeien in een tijd van de klimaatcrisis? Wat zien zij als valkuilen en kansen? Wat doet de klimaatcrisis met het welzijn van jongeren, en met hun toekomstperspectief? En welke acties kunnen jongeren en anderen ondernemen om met de klimaatcrisis om te gaan? In dit manifest belichten we hoe jongeren aankijken tegen de klimaatcrisis op basis van wetenschappelijk onderzoek, en geven we concrete aanbevelingen, vanuit het perspectief van jongeren, over hoe we met de klimaatcrisis om kunnen gaan en negatieve gevolgen voor jongeren kunnen inperken. We beginnen dit manifest met een bespreking van de opzet van dit project en de YoungXperts methode die we hierbij hebben toegepast (Hoofdstuk 1). Aansluitend leggen we uit hoe jongeren de klimaatcrisis ervaren, of zij dit als een probleem zien, en waarom het belangrijk is om inzicht te krijgen in het jongerenperspectief op de klimaatcrisis (Hoofdstuk 2). Daarna bespreken we hoe de klimaatcrisis invloed heeft op het mentale welzijn en toekomstperspectief van jongeren (Hoofdstuk 3). In het vierde hoofdstuk gaan we in op het perspectief van jongeren op hoe we verantwoordelijkheid kunnen nemen voor het tegengaan van de klimaatcrisis: hoe moeten individuen en de samenleving als collectief reageren? (Hoofdstuk 4). Vervolgens belichten we wat jongeren op dit moment al doen om de klimaatcrisis tegen te gaan (Hoofdstuk 5). Ook gaan we in op wat jongeren motiveert of belemmert voor verdere actie om de klimaatcrisis tegen te gaan (Hoofdstuk 6). Vervolgens bespreken we hoe jongeren klimaatonderwijs ervaren en geven we concrete aanbevelingen voor hoe dit volgens hen beter kan (Hoofdstuk 7). Het manifest eindigt met een conclusie, inclusief de belangrijkste aanbevelingen van jongeren hoe om te gaan met de klimaatcrisis.

Background Climate anxiety is increasingly prevalent among adolescents worldwide. Are climate‐anxious adolescents prone to engage in pro‐environmental behavior? Or might the association between climate anxiety and pro‐environmental be curvilinear, such that high levels of climate anxiety become ‘paralyzing’? And do these associations depend on whether adolescents believe that, with effort, the worst impacts of climate change can still be prevented? Methods We addressed these questions in three studies (two preregistered; combined N = 2,211), conducted across two countries. We used cross‐sectional and longitudinal methods, and various measures of climate anxiety and pro‐environmental behavior. We performed Bayesian regression analyses comparing two models that tested competing hypotheses. The first model included a linear effect of climate anxiety on pro‐environmental behavior, and the second model included both a linear and a curvilinear (i.e. inverted U‐shaped) effect of climate anxiety on pro‐environmental behavior. Next, we added environmental efficacy to the best fitting model and explored its moderating effects. Results Adolescents reported low‐to‐moderate levels of climate anxiety. Across the board, we found evidence for a small, positive, and mostly linear (rather than curvilinear) association between climate anxiety and pro‐environmental behavior. While Study 1 supported a curvilinear association (Bayes Factor (BF) = 18.87), Studies 2 and 3 mostly supported a linear model (BFs range 6.86–12.71), except for weak support (BF = 1.62) for a curvilinear association between climate anxiety symptoms and public sphere pro‐environmental behavior. Adolescents' environmental efficacy moderated this link for public sphere (e.g. activism), but not private sphere (e.g. recycling), pro‐environmental behavior. Conclusions Climate‐anxious adolescents are prone to engage in pro‐environmental behavior. We found limited evidence for ‘eco‐paralysis’ (i.e. a passive state of pro‐environmental behavioral stasis) at high levels of climate anxiety. Our results are consistent with the possibility that supporting adolescents' environmental efficacy will help climate‐anxious adolescents engage in public sphere pro‐environmental behavior.

The sustainability motive-alignment hypothesis posits that adolescents will be motivated to act sustainably when they view sustainable behavior as aligned with their motives for autonomy and peer status. Based on this hypothesis, we developed the Sustainability Motive-Alignment Scale (SMAS), a brief self-report scale of individual differences in sustainability motive-alignment. In four studies across two relatively individualistic (U.S., Netherlands) and two relatively collectivistic countries (China, Colombia), the SMAS was reliable and valid as a single-factor scale; measurement invariant in terms of age and genders but measurement noninvariant in terms of culture, suggesting cultural differences in adolescents' construals of sustainability motive-alignment; and positively associated with measures of sustainable attitudes, norms, self-efficacy, behavior, and climate change knowledge. Thus, sustainability motive-alignment can be assessed as a conceptually distinct psychological dimension underlying adolescents' sustainable tendencies. We hope that our brief, psycho-metrically sound instrument will spark developmentally informed research on the psychological underpinnings of adolescent sustainability.

This study examined the relationship between family wealth and school dropout among vocational education students ( n = 1,231; mean age=17.81). It investigated whether (1) family affluence and adolescents’ own perceptions and experiences of their family wealth (i.e., perceived family wealth, financial scarcity) predict dropout, (2) adolescents’ civic attitudes (i.e., system justification, institutional trust) explain the association between family wealth and school dropout, and (3) trust in teachers buffers against the risk of dropout among students with lower civic attitudes. Multivariate models revealed that financial scarcity predicted dropout. Financial scarcity showed an indirect only effect on dropout through lower institutional trust, but not through system justification. Trust in teachers was neither associated with dropout, nor a moderator. Controlling for mental health problems did not affect these results. This study helps explain how students’ experienced and perceived family wealth can affect their educational attainment, by reducing their trust in social institutions.

NOTE: After peer review, the manuscript was revised, resubmitted, and published. The publication is available open access at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10888691.2023.2260748 . Please refer to the published article. The sustainability motive-alignment hypothesis posits that adolescents will be internally motivated to act sustainably when they view sustainable behavior as aligned with their motives for autonomy and peer status. Based on this hypothesis, we developed the Sustainability Motive-Alignment Scale (SMAS), a brief self-report scale of individual differences in sustainability motive-alignment. In four studies across two relatively individualistic (U.S., Netherlands) and two relatively collectivistic countries (China, Colombia), the SMAS was reliable and valid as a single-factor scale; somewhat culturally variant, suggesting cultural differences in adolescents’ construals of sustainability motive-alignment (Study 2); and positively associated with measures of sustainable attitudes, norms, self-efficacy, behavior, and climate change knowledge (Studies 3 and 4). Thus, sustainability motive-alignment can be assessed as a conceptually distinct psychological dimension underlying adolescents’ sustainable tendencies. We hope that our brief, psychometrically sound instrument will spark developmentally informed research on the psychological underpinnings of adolescent sustainability.

Communicating with adolescents about climate change can be challenging if we want to safeguard their emotional well-being. Here, we evaluate the emotional impact of climate change communication that is informed by self-determination theory (SDT). We conducted two experiments with samples of ethnically diverse adolescents from the United States to examine adolescents’ emotions when reading needs-aligned, needs-misaligned, and needs-neutral (control) communication about climate change. Adolescents who read needs-aligned communication reported less anxiety compared with adolescents who read needs-misaligned (Study 1) and needs-neutral (Study 2) communication. Unexpectedly, compared with adolescents who read needs-neutral communication, adolescents who read needs-misaligned communication reported more positive emotions (i.e., enjoyment, pride) when learning about climate change (Study 2). Our research provides initial evidence that SDT can inform climate change communication strategies that buffer adolescents from experiencing anxiety.