A new study funded by the youth-focused nonprofit Avaaz, which tackles climate, human rights, and other big issues, found that climate change gives young Americans a serious case of the "climate emotions."
Emotions like despair, fear, anxiety, and depression are hitting hard, especially among Democrats.
Published in The Lancet Planetary Health, the peer-reviewed study explores how young people are dealing with climate change and how they feel about government actions in response.
The study also highlights the mental strain teens and young adults face due to "extreme weather events."
Researchers surveyed around 16,000 young people in the U.S. last year, across all states, ages 16 to 25, and found that 85% are at least somewhat worried about climate change, with 58% feeling "very or extremely worried."
About 38% said their concerns are affecting their mental health and even disrupting their daily lives.
Respondents identifying as Democrats or Independents tended to be more worried than Republicans in the survey.
The survey found that most respondents, which surprisingly also includes nearly 38% of Republicans, are hesitant to have kids because of climate change.
Where do you think all this anxiety is coming from??
Lead author Eric Lewandowski from NYU claims that climate change is becoming less of a partisan issue for younger people. However, more Democrats (45.7%) than Republicans (33.7%) said their worries about climate change impact their daily lives.
This hasn't been the only study looking into "climate emotions." Other studies have also shown that young people in several countries, including the U.S., feel distressed about climate change.
What they're saying: One interesting finding of the research, Lewandowski said, is that young people are looking to have more conversations about climate change and to be validated in their concerns, rather than have older generations dismiss them.
'Talking about the danger when there is danger is helpful,' he told Axios in an interview. 'We think of these climate emotions as a normal human reaction' in the face of a threat.
'These statistics confirm what we've been seeing in the trenches,' said study coauthor Lise Van Susteren, a psychiatrist in Washington who is an expert on the psychological impacts of climate change. 'The young people are really struggling. And they are struggling in ways that I've not seen before.'
She hopes the findings will help lead to a 'social tipping point' on climate.
While about half of young Americans are dealing with debilitating climate emotions, it's good to see folks online not buying into all this:
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