Eco-anxiety: an additional burden for university students?

Introduction : To assess eco-anxiety in students and investigate a relationship with health behaviour, mental health, and environmental opinion. Method : A cross-sectional study was conducted among voluntary university students in the Rouen University in Normandy, France. Volunteer healthcare students aged 18 years and older were included. Eco-anxiety was assessed with the Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale (HEAS-13). Socio-demographics, health behavior, mental health and healthcare data were collected. Results : A total of 1,887 students were included with 74.3% of women and a mean age of 21.1 years (SD = 6.8). The HEAS-13 mean was 13.2 (SD = 2.6): affective symptoms 4.1 (SD = 2.7), eco-rumination 3.7 (SD = 2.4), behaviour 1.0 (SD = 1.5), and anxiety about one’s personal impact on the planet 4.4 (SD = 2 .5). Respectively, 59.6% and 31.4% of students are moderately and very much involved in pro environmental-behaviour. 84.6% of students will consider environmental issues in their career choices. Eco-anxiety was associated with being a woman, being in curricula other than health, accommodation with roommates or in couple, use of cannabis, eating disorders, insomnia, emotional exhaustion, cynicism, depression, quality of life, and visiting a general practitioner for stress. Discussion : An high eco-anxiety was associated with impaired mental health and could be an additional burden for university students. Intervention options for those that do experience eco-anxiety and suffering can be as prescribing environmental action, mental health skills, and climate change resolution without imposing the burden of change solely on young people.