Mental health implications of compounding climate events on youth populations

This $525,764 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (CFDA 47.075) program aims to examine the complex relationships between compounding climate events and youth mental health. The research team at Appalachian State University will leverage data from Crisis Text Line, a mobile crisis counseling service, to study how direct and indirect exposure to compounding climate events impacts youth mental health across the United States. The project will (1) generate a new dataset integrating multiple types of compounding climate events, (2) identify geographic regions prone to frequent compounding climate events, (3) demonstrate the feasibility of using novel digital data sources like Crisis Text Line to understand climate event impacts on youth mental health, and (4) extend causal inference linking complex climate events to increased mental health risks in youth populations. This research seeks to address critical knowledge gaps regarding the mental health implications of climate change, particularly for vulnerable youth. The award is effective from August 15, 2024 through July 31, 2027, and sub-awards are planned under this grant.

Abstract

This project aims to examine the complex, causal linkages between direct and indirect exposure to compounding climate events (CCE) and youth mental health. Leveraging a longstanding and successful partnership with crisis text line, a mobile crisis counseling service with over 9 million text conversations since 2016, the research team gains access to a unique dataset on daily help-seeking behavior, which has the potential to provide situational awareness about youth mental health in response to cces across the US. This study works to (1) generate a new dataset of cces for social science use that integrates multiple CCE types (e.g., drought+wildfire; heatwave+drought); (2) identify geographic regions across the US prone to frequent cces; (3) highlight the feasibility of using novel digital data sources like crisis text line for understanding the CCE effects on youth?S mental health; and (4) extend causal inference linking complex cces to increased mental health risk in youth, a highly vulnerable population. CCE impacts on mental health in young people are an understudied and critical knowledge GAP, as climate events are projected to increase in frequency and intensity. The research applies spatial and statistical methods to investigate (1) where and when cces occurred in the US and (2) what are the direct and indirect mental health implications of compounding or recurrent climate events. By linking large datasets of climate and help-seeking behavior, the research team also develops new methods to infer causality between cces and both direct and indirect mental health and addresses the dual climate and mental health crisis. Findings can advance understanding of the impact of multiple, CO-occurring climate stressors on mental health in at-risk youth populations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are planned for this award.