The Intersectional Impact of Environmental Crises on Youth Eco-anxiety and Future Orientation
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This scientific research provides a comprehensive analysis of the complex and profound psychological impact of modern global ecological crises on the mental health, emotional stability, and long-term future trajectories of the new generation. The study analyzes the systemic pressure that the threefold ecological crisis—comprising climate change, the drastic loss of biodiversity, and the widespread pollution of air, water, and soil—exerts on the developmental environment of young people. Drawing on a global empirical survey of youth in 10 countries published in The Lancet Planetary Health, as well as authoritative data from researchers at the American Psychological Association, UNICEF, and Imperial College London, the study substantiates how eco-anxiety, solastalgia, and institutional inaction are causing severe moral injury and existential uncertainty among young people. The findings show that chronic ecological distress is seriously affecting young people’s strategic life decisions, such as career paths, educational plans, geographic mobility, and childbearing. The article argues for the need to cultivate radical hope and active ecological agency, rather than superficial optimism, in order to protect the mental health of young people, and to place youth interests at the center of environmental policy.
Authors: Hasanova Malika, Qahramonova Shahzoda
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225769485
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