From the Womb to Emerging Adulthood: Understanding the Impacts of Climate Change and Environmental Exposure on Development and Well-being
Chair(s): Cansel Karakas Ozden (Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
Climate change and environmental factors play a crucial role in shaping human development from the earliest stages of life, influencing physical health, emotional states, and mental well-being. This symposium includes four presentations that explore the effects of climate change and environmental exposures from the prenatal period through emerging adulthood from different geographic contexts. These studies provide insights into emotional, psychological, and biological responses to climate change across various developmental stages and cultural contexts.
The first presentation explores the epigenetic signatures of early-life exposure to pollution and greenness, using data from a large cohort of mother-infant dyads to understand the effects of environmental stressors in the first thousand days of life. The second presentation examines the mental health impacts of climate change on Turkana adolescents in Northern Kenya, a pastoralist community severely affected by climate change, linking their psychological well-being to their responses to environmental stressors. The third presentation presents lived experiences from a qualitative study with adolescents in Madagascar and Pakistan – both of which are highly climate-vulnerable – to explore potential pathways through which climate change influences adolescent development and mental health. The fourth presentation offers a systematic review of emotions related to climate change among young people. It synthesizes evidence on the specific emotions being studied in the literature, the methods used to measure these emotions, and the links between these emotions, mental health, and pro-environmental behaviors in young people.
By integrating findings across various developmental stages and geographic and resource contexts, this symposium seeks to provide developmental researchers with a comprehensive understanding of how climate change and environmental exposures shape developmental outcomes, mental health, and behaviors from the prenatal period to emerging adulthood.
Presentations of the Symposium
Environmental contributions to developmental epigenome: Pollutants and greenness exposures during the first thousand days
Sarah Nazzari1, Enrico Pisoni2, Grazia Zulian3, Giacomo Cremaschi1, Silvia D’Alfonso1, Camilla De Santis1, Elise L. M. Torterolo1, Roberto Bergamaschi4, Livio Provenzi1
1University of Pavia, Italy, 2European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy, 3Institute of Physical Geography and Landscape Ecology, Leibnitz University Hannover, Germany , 4IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
Introduction. Prenatal exposure to maternal stress and air pollution, such as particulate matter (PM2.5), has been linked to developmental outcomes in infancy and beyond, potentially through DNA methylation of stress-related genes like SLC6A4. In contrast, exposure to greenness—green space availability near the home—may provide protective effects. However, their combined impact and critical periods of susceptibility remain unclear.
Aims. This ongoing study examines the independent and interactive effects of maternal pandemic-related stress (PRS), PM2.5 exposure, and greenness on newborn SLC6A4 DNA methylation, identifying potential sensitive gestational windows.
Methods. Mother–infant dyads (N= 307) were enrolled at delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic. Newborn buccal cell samples were analyzed for SLC6A4 DNA methylation at 13 CpG sites. Maternal PRS was retrospectively reported. PM2.5 exposure throughout gestation and at each trimester was derived from the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service. Analyses of prenatal exposure to green spaces in a subsample of dyads (N=110) are currently ongoing using high-resolution map data. Hierarchical regression models tested for the independent and combined effects of these exposures on infant SLC6A4 methylation, adjusting for infant’s sex.
Findings. Higher PRS and PM2.5 exposure were associated with increased SLC6A4 DNA methylation at six CpG sites, with the strongest effects observed for second-trimester PM2.5 exposure. Preliminary analyses suggest that greater greenness exposure is linked to lower SLC6A4 DNA methylation, suggesting a protective effect. Data on the complete greenness dataset is currently being processed and will be presented.
Discussion. These findings highlight the second trimester as a critical period for environmental influences on fetal epigenetic regulation. While PM2.5 and stress were associated with increased DNA methylation, ongoing analyses will further elucidate whether greenness buffers against these adverse effects. Understanding these interactions has important implications for maternal-infant health, emphasizing the need for policies promoting clean air and access to green spaces since pregnancy.
Voices from Northern Kenya Turkana adolescents experiencing climate change-triggered mental distress
Pamela Akinyi Wadende1, Tholene Sodi2
1Kisii University, Kenya, 2University of Limpopo, South Africa
Background: Mental illness accounts for high levels of morbidity, mortality, and poor quality of life among young people. Depression, anxiety, conduct and hyperactive disorders account for 13% of the Global burden of disease. 1 in every 7 adolescents are affected worldwide. In Kenya, not much is documented of the mental health of non-school going adolescents, yet they make up about 1.8 million of the country’ population. The Turkana of Northern Kenya are largely pastoralists currently negatively impacted by climate change that presents in prolonged drought and diminishing pasture lands. The stress experienced by the herder youth when livestock is lost causes mental distress that commonly manifests in depression and anxiety.
Method: An ethnographic study by Focus Group Discussions with 32 rural Northern Kenya Turkana based adolescents divided into school and non-school groups. Adolescent were asked to identify symptoms of Depression, Schizophrenia or anxiety. The investigators explored their knowledge of, causes and management options for the same conditions then analyzed data thematically. Investigators sought to know if the adolescents related any of these symptoms to the distress experienced from trying to keep their pastoralist lifestyle in the face of upheavals caused by climate change.
Findings: Participants described the conditions without referring to the local names investigators had earlier collected; Depression (Akiyalolong) Schizophrenia (waarit/ Ngikerep) Anxiety (Ngatameta naaronok). They assigned curses, guilt, hunger pangs, evil spells as causes and believed friends and age-mates, parents, teachers, the local chief among others could help but rarely conventional hospital based medical intervention.
Conclusions: Interventions to improve the adolescent’s understanding of mental illness is a much-needed support for the health of young people and especially those whose traditional livelihood is threatened by climate change in LMIC settings.
Adolescent Development Amid Climate Change: Lived Experiences from Two Climate-Vulnerable Regions
Tooba Nadeem Akhtar1, Alina Cosma1, Matylda Sulowska2, Nambinina Rasolomalala3, Samuel Solomon4, Satry Ramaroson5, Isabelle Mareschal6, Kristin Hadfield1
1Trinity Centre for Global Health, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, 2School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, 3Centre for Research for Development, Catholic University of Madagascar, Madagascar, 4Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, UK, 5CBM Madagascar, Madagascar, 6Centre for Brain and Behaviour, Department of Psychology, School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Adolescence is a critical period for development, characterised by increased sensitivity to environmental experiences that influence mental health, wellbeing, and life course outcomes. Climate change is an escalating environmental stressor, with both acute extreme weather events and slow, chronic environmental degradation disrupting developmental trajectories. This qualitative study explores lived experiences of extreme weather and adolescent perceptions on how climate change affects their mental health in two highly climate-vulnerable countries, Madagascar and Pakistan.
Focus groups were conducted with adolescents aged 11–24 (Androy, Madagascar: n=48, 11 groups; Sindh, Pakistan: n=33, 4 groups) between March and August 2024. The topic guide included open-ended questions about how climate changes and extreme/unpredictable weather affect mood, functioning, and coping strategies. Discussions were recorded, transcribed, translated to English, and analysed using the thematic analysis framework developed by Braun and Clarke.
We identified three core themes: loss of resources, uncertainty about the future, and disruptions to coping mechanisms. Relative to high-income countries where climate change may be a distant concern, in Madagascar and Pakistan, climate change was perceived as a direct and urgent disruption to developmental tasks and lives. Potential mechanisms through which the experience of climate change might impact their mental health varied: in Madagascar, the reported impacts were often tied to resource scarcity, while in Pakistan, there was chronic distress around financial insecurity. Adolescents connected extreme weather and climate change to poor mental health both directly and indirectly, but the nature of these connections reflect context-specific socio-economic and environmental realities.
Our findings highlight some challenges adolescents face in climate-vulnerable, under-resourced settings, including food and financial insecurity and disrupted education and access to recreation. These suggest pathways through which climate change impacts adolescent mental health. However, more research is needed to investigate and validate these mechanisms to inform interventions that address adolescent development and wellbeing.
Climate Emotions in Young People: A Systematic Review on the Prevalence, Development, and Links to Mental Health and Pro-environmental Behaviors
Cansel Karakas Ozden1, Andrik Becht2, Anouk Smeekes1, Saira Wahid2, Susan Branje2, Catrin Finkenauer1
1Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, 2Youth & Family, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
As the climate crisis intensifies, understanding its psychological impact on younger generations is crucial. Climate change not only impacts young people directly in vulnerable geographic regions facing extreme weather events but also indirectly through socio-economic challenges arising from climate change. Additionally, many young people experience emotional and psychological (vicarious) effects due to increased awareness and knowledge of the climate crisis. Research indicates that young people worldwide can experience a variety of both positive and negative emotions regarding climate change. These emotional responses might impact their mental health as well as motivation for climate-friendly actions. Although research on the emotional responses to climate change is growing, there is still limited understanding of the range of emotions young people experience, their development over time, and their links to pro-environmental behaviors and mental health.
This preregistered systematic review aims to address these gaps by achieving three objectives: 1) identifying the climate emotions of young people studied in the literature, the methods used to measure them, and their reported levels or prevalence; 2) exploring how changes in these emotions have been studied across age groups, time periods, or cohorts, and the trends observed; and 3) uncovering the aspects of mental health and pro-environmental behaviors studied in relation to climate emotions and the identified associations between them. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, searches were conducted in four databases (Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and PsycINFO) for relevant studies published up to January 1, 2025. The findings will not only map current knowledge and provide directions for future research but also guide interventions aimed at supporting young people's mental health and promoting pro-environmental behaviors in the face of climate change.
