A Causal Analysis of the Complex Mental Health Impacts of the Climate Crisis in Young People

气候危机对年轻人复杂心理健康影响的原因分析 项目摘要。 新的研究认识到对气候变化和变异敏感的环境因素（例如， 温度升高，热浪）可能在连接环境暴露的复杂途径中发挥作用， 消极的心理健康和幸福结果。最近的一项调查显示，十分之七的年轻人 担心他们在这些行星变化的背景下的未来。很少有研究全面考察气候- 心理健康在国家一级，以确定哪些类型或组合的气候事件（极端高温， 飓风，飓风背景下的极端高温）与年轻人的心理健康后果有关。 人本研究的总体目标是全面检查心理的敏感性， 气候灾害对青年健康的影响，以及气候灾害的复合和级联效应 我们将利用与Crisis Text的长期合作关系， Line（CTL）是一家全球性的非营利组织，提供免费的、24/7的、保密的基于文本的危机管理服务。 响应服务。CTL目前拥有世界上最大的心理健康数据库， 数据源，可以实时提供数据。我们将进行因果分析，以实现以下目标： 目的1：研究心理健康求助的当地时空模式，以应对三个 极端气候事件--飓风、野火和热浪--以及危机应对如何因事件类型而异 在急性期和慢性期。目标2：确定个人和社区一级的社会和 环境因素促进受气候灾害影响的青年的心理健康复原力。目标3： 比较并发极端事件对青年心理纵向变化的复合效应 健康 研究结果将为危机应对和心理健康培训工作提供信息，并通过 通过开发对理解气候影响方式至关重要的概念模型， 心理健康本研究的发现将通过准实验研究设计得到加强， 将利用丰富的时空数据来确定与气候灾害有关的心理健康状况， 调解驱动这些模式的潜在差异。这个项目将利用我们丰富的生产力 合作吸引本科生，主要以农村“第一代”大学为代表 学生在研究。此外，这项建议将加强研究和学习的基础设施， 阿巴拉契亚州立大学，主要介绍地理，公共卫生， 心理健康科学的跨学科研究，解决21世纪复杂的环境和 利用因果科学方法和统计/地理空间技术应对健康挑战。传统上 代表性不足的学生将获得导师和现实世界的研究经验，在交叉点， 心理健康和气候变化，以及介绍可以识别 人口一级的干预杠杆点，以减少气候灾害对心理健康的影响。 1

A Causal Analysis of the Complex Mental Health Impacts of the Climate Crisis in Young People Project Summary. New research recognizes the role that environmental factors sensitive to climate change and variability (e.g., increasing temperatures, heat waves) may play in the complex pathway linking environmental exposures and negative mental health and well-being outcomes. A recent survey showing 7 out of 10 young people are worried about their future in the context of these planetary changes. Few studies have fully examined climate- mental health on a national level to determine which types or combinations of climate events (extreme heat, hurricanes, extreme heat in the context of a hurricane) are connected to mental health consequences in young people. The overarching goal of this research is to comprehensively examine the sensitivity of mental health impacts to climate disasters in youth, as well as the compounding and cascading effect of concurrent extreme events across the U.S. We will leverage our longstanding partnership with Crisis Text Line (CTL), a global not-for-profit organization that provides free, 24/7, and confidential text-based crisis response service. CTL currently has the largest repository of mental health data in the world and, unlike other data sources, can provide data in real-time. We will perform a causal analysis to address the following aims: Aim 1: Examine the local spatiotemporal patterns of help-seeking for mental health in response to three extreme climate events—hurricanes, wildfires, and heatwaves—and how crisis response varies by event-type and in the acute and chronic phases. Aim 2: Identify the individual and community-level social and environmental factors that promote mental health resilience in youth impacted by a climate disaster. Aim 3: Compare the compounding effect of concurrent extreme events on longitudinal changes in youth mental health. Results will inform crisis response and mental health training efforts and fulfill a vital research gap through the “embrace of complexity” by developing conceptual models critical to understanding how climate impacts mental health. This study’s findings will be enhanced through the quasi-experimental research design, which will leverage rich spatiotemporal data to identify the mental health conditions related to climate disasters and mediating underlying disparities driving these patterns. This project will leverage our rich and productive collaboration to engage undergraduate students, primarily represented by rural ‘first generation’ college students in research. Further, this proposal will enhance the research and learning infrastructure at Appalachian State University, introducing primarily rural college students in geography, public health, and mental health sciences to transdisciplinary research that tackles 21st-century complex environmental and health challenges using causal science approaches and statistical/geospatial techniques. Traditionally underrepresented students will receive mentorship and real-world research experience at the intersection of mental health and climate change, as well as an introduction to science techniques that can identify population-level leverage points for interventions to reduce the impact of climate disasters on mental health. 1