1 - (SYM 70) The Climate Change Social Media Movement and Youth Mental Health

Background: Climate change is a global crisis contributing to significant distress among youth (Thompson, 2021). Young people are engaging with climate issues on social media; however, social media can exacerbate distress without clear steps for taking action (Parry et al., 2022). Increases in racial discrimination via social media place Black, Indigenous, and Youth of Color (BIYOC) at greater mental health risk (Tao & Fisher, 2022). The current study conducted focus groups with a racially diverse sample of youth with the goal of understanding their lived experiences of engaging with climate change on social media.

Method: Five 2-hour focus groups were conducted exploring climate change awareness; concerns about climate health consequences; actions for addressing climate change; and challenges, benefits, and mental health impacts of engaging with climate change on social media. The study included 20 youth (M_age = 20.67), the majority (72.2%) identifying as women and BIYOC (66.7%). Inductive coding categorized data into themes. Transcripts were double-coded by the research team, and then the team met together to review codes.

Results: The following themes emerged: (1) Climate-related emotions, including frustration, pessimism, and hopelessness, as well as hope in response to seeing others take action; (2) Climate change and intersectionality, with concerns about disproportionate impacts of climate change on communities in the global South, coastal communities, low-income communities, and communities of color; (3) Social media as a double-edged sword, with benefits as a tool to spread awareness, amplify diverse perspectives, and mobilize action and drawbacks of increased exposure to negative information, potential for bias, and algorithm limitations; and (4) Strategies to promote climate action, including using social media as a tool to highlight opportunities for engaging in hyper-local action.

Discussion: Findings highlight both benefits and challenges of social media for climate education and calls to action. Future work is needed to identify strategies to leverage social media as a promotive tool for youth resilience in the context of the climate crisis.