What role does climate change worry play in young people’s life and learning processes? A longitudinal study about protective and transformational factors and implications for climate change education

Climate change (CC) worry is common among young people and can increase when learning about this problem in formal and informal contexts. But is this worry a positive force for learning and engagement, or is it rather related to low wellbeing?

In this project we perform a longitudinal questionnaire study (three waves) with senior high-school students (n=1000-1200) to over time investigate: how CC-worry relates to well-being, future views, engagement, and CC-knowledge.

In addition, we will focus on possible factors that can turn worry into a positive force for learning, with a maintained wellbeing, like coping, critical consciousness, social trust, and communication with teachers/parents (mediators/moderators) and investigate factors that possibly can explain CC-worry, like values.

A longitudinal approach is vital since it enables us to control for time and thereby follow how learning processes unfolds over the three years of senior high school. Capturing which factors come first is essential to develop science based educational approaches concerning CC.

We also conduct a qualitative interview study (n=20) with highly worried young people (as identified by the survey) to get an in-depth understanding of CC-worry in young people’s life and learning processes.

The results are valuable for teacher education, since education for sustainable development is an important part of the whole school system, but also for parents who want to communicate with their children about CC.