Covid and climate change impacts mental well-being of young people: Study

The study, which was carried out by researchers from The George Institute of Global Health and published in The Lancet Regional Health-Southeast Asia, examined the burden of Covid-19 and climate change on young people

Hyderabad: A first-of-its-kind study on young people between 16 years and 24 years from slum settlements in Hyderabad and Faridabad has indicated that the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change had a negative impact on their mental well-being.

The study, which was carried out by researchers from The George Institute of Global Health and published in The Lancet Regional Health-Southeast Asia on Friday, examined the burden of Covid-19 and climate change on young people.

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This is the first study that focused on impact of Covid and climate change on young people living in urban slums in a low-and-middle income country (LMIC). Most of the respondents reported interference of climate change and Covid-19 on their mental well-being, researchers said. Tangible experiences of extreme weather events, that were personally experienced or that impacted their family members had a negative impact on their lives, while action around improving the environment had a positive impact, researchers said.

In the study titled “Psychological responses to the climate and COVID-19 crises in young people and their agency to build the world they hope to see” , the researchers said, “irrespective of whether they were infected with the virus or not, Covid-19 resulted in a marked increase of psychological distress. Anguish, uncertainty, fear of death, anxiety, increased alcohol, and substance use was widely reported, and internet addiction increased”.

A total of 600 respondents, i.e. 300 each from Faridabad and Hyderabad were part of the study that was co-authored by Dr Sandhya Kanaka Yatirajula, Lokender Prashad, Mercian Daniel, and Dr Pallab Maulik.

“The study provides knowledge about how adolescents and young people from such disadvantaged communities have been impacted by Covid-19 and climate change, both positively and negatively, and highlights some of the factors that they have adopted to face those situations and their sense of agency to contribute to changes for the future that they would like to see especially with regards to Covid-19 and climate crises. This is important given the impact that both climate change and Covid has on the lives of all individuals but particularly on young people’s future,” the researchers said.

“The loss of agency and hopelessness that may result from climate change is concerning, particularly for vulnerable populations who are already at risk due to the Covid-19 crisis,” Talking about the need for such a study, the lead author Dr Sandhya Yatirajula said,