Climate change is a known public health concern, and recent research emphasizes the potential impact on youth mental health. Reviewing data from over 38,000 high school students in 22 urban public school districts across 14 states, researchers found that adolescents experiencing the greatest number of climate-related “disaster days” were more likely to experience mental distress when exposed within the past 2 or 5 years compared to those who experienced fewer disaster days. Notably, no significant association was found between mental distress and exposure to disaster days in the past 10 years or to individual disaster events. To learn more, see the study in Preventive Medicine Reports.
