How to support young people with eco-anxiety

As children and adolescents are increasingly exposed to the reality of climate change, dialogue must be prioritized over avoidance, argues the D^D Laelia Benoit, child psychiatrist. In collaboration with the Jasmin Roy Sophie Desmarais Foundation, which partly funded a study she conducted on the subject, the researcher at Yale University has developed two guides to help parents and teachers approach the subject.

You conducted a study in three countries (France, United States and Brazil) to understand how children and adolescents react to climate change. What are the main findings?

Climate change is a subject that interests them, that they want to talk about, that they want to understand. They are worried and concerned, but at the same time, they don’t say that it affects their mental health. They say: “It worries me, but I also manage to live my life, to play. » It’s rather positive. We are not experiencing an epidemic of ecoanxiety that would affect toddlers, that would prevent them from growing up. The other positive result is that the children (7 to 10 years old) want to participate, they want to do little things, plant trees, recycle. We know that these are not revolutionary actions, they are small eco-gestures, but at their age, they are already very happy to do it. Another observation is that children do not understand the benefit of climate actions if we do not explain them to them. We have a generation of young parents who are aware of the climate, who want to act, who do lots of things, but they are very afraid of stressing their children, so they don’t explain what they are doing. The conclusion of this study is that when we don’t explain, children don’t understand and as a result, they have the impression that their parents are not interested in the climate. And that’s problematic, because when they grow up, they feel like no one is interested.

But don’t we risk causing stress to our children by broaching this subject before they talk to us about it? Is it not legitimate to want to preserve their innocence?

Either way, they’re going to be exposed to it at one point or another. It’s one of the difficult truths of life, like death. The main thing is to talk about it in simple words that are appropriate for their age and to talk about it in the context of an action. Rather than talking about very negative things, say for example: “We try to buy without packaging to protect the planet. » You have to turn things in a positive way.

To what extent can the ecoanxiety felt by the parent be transmitted to the child?

Before talking to your child, the first thing to do as a parent is to take the time to feel your own emotions. Not to control them, to cancel them, to not feel sad, but just to be aware of what we feel. It then allows you to put it into words, to be able to say: “Well yes, mom too, she’s sad that it’s happening like this and I understand that you’re sad. » It’s better to say that than to avoid talking about the subject, because otherwise, children feel that it is a taboo subject. If we try to hide from them that we are worried, they sense it.

Is the approach to adopt the same for adolescents?

There are two things that change a lot during adolescence. First, they have access to more information, either at school or through social media. They will learn many things on their own, including the seriousness of the situation. Secondly, they are starting to be aware of the complexity of the systems, that is to say that if I turn off the light or if I reduce the heating by one degree, it will not change the situation. So, they are less reassured by individual gestures. Among the things we found in the study was the teenagers’ anger, their indignation. This is often linked to a lack of intergenerational communication. If parents don’t explain that they too are interested in the climate, that they too are worried and that they too are trying to do things, teenagers have the impression that they are the first to worry about it. worry. Also, since they know more complex systems, we can talk with them about the importance of the collective. It is not necessarily taking very high-level actions, but local actions that have a significant carbon impact. What the teenagers in our study say is that they need help from adults to help them set up these kinds of projects.

What is the role of the school and the teachers?

Obviously, awareness, that is to say explaining the phenomenon, the mechanisms. Now it’s integrated into the programs. [Au Québec, le ministre de l’Éducation a annoncé en octobre que les programmes d’études en science et en technologie seront révisés pour faire plus de place aux changements climatiques.] For young people who have more disadvantaged social origins, it is the school that plays the role of teaching climate change. The other thing that the school can add is proposals for concrete actions.

You recently published an essay on infantism, a form of discrimination against minors. What impact does it have when adults mock or discredit the words of young people?

The impact is to feel discredited, to be ignored. It’s very hurtful. And it’s a waste of opportunity because the desire to act is there. They want to do things, they want to participate, they have energy. It’s a waste to treat them poorly when they want to do their part.

The remarks in this interview have been edited for brevity.