Conceptualizing Young People's Experiences of Climate Change Awareness: A Narrative Review

There are a myriad of ways that young people experience and respond to awareness of the climate crisis. The way these experiences and their potential impacts on mental health are conceptualized is not yet clear or consistent for this emerging field of research. Consolidating emerging concepts, definitions, and theories can help to focus future research, policy, and interventions. We conducted a narrative review of academic literature covering climate change and mental health research focusing on young people. We searched Web of Science for English-language reviews published until June 27, 2024, and primary data published between January 2023 and June 2024. We extracted relevant concepts and created categories of concepts. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies (ASReview and ChatGPT) assisted papers screening and categorization, with human validation from global experts. We identified 93 relevant articles describing 173 terms for young people's experiences of climate change awareness; 52 coping strategies; and 62 frameworks, models, and theories with varying and overlapping definitions. We present and categorize the most frequent. This narrative review provides a foundational guide to the complex field of climate psychology, focusing on young people. We outline a seven-phase roadmap to further explore and consolidate understandings of emerging concepts and to map their interrelationships.