91福利

Project Leads

Elizabeth Saewyc, Monica Rana

Team Members
Mauricio Coronel Villalobos; Caroline Mackay, Gursahil Purba

Cluster: Immigrant Adolescent and Youth Health

Climate change can affect youth health through heat, smoke, displacement stress, housing insecurity, food insecurity, and disruptions to school and community life. Migrant youth may face compounded vulnerabilities because of settlement pressures, economic inequities, and uneven access to culturally safe health information and services. The team has begun a scoping review to explore the mental health effects of climate change on youth and adolescents.

The objective of this project is to map and synthesize evidence on how climate change affects adolescent mental health and wellbeing, focusing specifically on risk and protective factors that worsen or mitigate the mental health impacts of climate change. The project will also examine the impacts of climate change on migrant youth.

1. How does climate change affect adolescent mental health and wellbeing?
2. What risk and protective factors worsen or mitigate the mental health impacts of climate change for youth and adolescents?
3. What are the mental and physical health impacts of climate-related events, such as wildfires, on migrant youth compared to Canadian-born youth?

This project will analyze data from the British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey (BCAHS), and the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey to do exploratory analysis. The team has begun a scoping review to map and synthesize evidence on the mental health effects of climate change on youth and adolescents. Planned exploratory analysis will use data sources such as BCAHS to map climate events, including wildfires, and assess their mental and physical health impacts on migrant youth compared to Canadian-born youth. In the coming months, the team will conduct preliminary work, including the scoping review and exploratory analysis, to lay the groundwork for more detailed work.

Ongoing. Preliminary work includes a scoping review and exploratory analysis

Climate change; Migrant youth; Health equity; Social determinants; Wellbeing; Mental health; Sexual health;