背景:新的全球危机正在出现,而现有的全球危机仍有增无减。应对气候变化,日本福岛核事故后释放到太平洋的放射性水,乌克兰和中东的战争(以下简称战争)作为个人危机会对年轻人的心理健康产生负面影响,但对多重危机的复合影响知之甚少。我们的目的是研究:(1)年轻人对每一次危机的情绪反应,(2)全球危机中情绪参与的总体水平如何可能对心理健康构成不同的潜在轨迹,(3)媒体接触和自然联系作为年轻人心理健康结果的中介者的保护或加剧作用。
方法:我们对来自中国的年轻人(年龄在18-29岁)进行了一项跨国在线调查,葡萄牙,南非,美国,和英国。我们采用了分层目的性抽样,并使用在线平台分发了调查(www.wenjuan.com和www.prolific.com)。如果个人具有中文或英文知识,并且在过去12个月内没有诊断出精神障碍,则有资格纳入我们的分析。参与者被问及他们的人口统计学特征和在社交媒体上花费的时间,包括与全球利益危机有关的媒体曝光时间的比例,他们完成了基于经过验证的测量抑郁量表的调查,焦虑,压力,和幸福,以及对每一次全球危机和自然关系的情绪反应。我们使用描述性统计数据评估了调查结果,方差分析测试,个体情绪反应的聚类分析,和结构方程模型,用于对个人全球危机的情感参与的总体度量。
结果:在10月20日至2023年11月3日之间,有2579人参加了调查,其中来自每个国家的400名参与者(200名男性和200名女性参与者)被纳入我们的分析(平均年龄24·36岁[SD2·86])。平均情绪参与在全球利益危机之间变化(从0到68,其中0表示没有情绪反应,68表示在17种不同情绪中的强烈情绪反应;战争:32·42[SD14·57];气候变化:28·79[14·17];放射性水:21·26[16·08]),情感参与也因国家而异;例如,对于来自中国的受访者,与其他国家相比,放射性水中的平均情感参与相对较高(39·15[10·72]),对于来自美国的受访者,参与战争的程度相对较低(29·45[15·78])。我们发现不同危机之间的情感参与水平存在显著差异,在各个国家之间观察到不同的情绪特征。为了评估媒体曝光和自然联系对心理结果的作用,使用结构方程模型,我们构建了一个由葡萄牙组成的多国模型,南非,美国,和英国,和中国的独立模式。这些模型阐明了情感参与与心理困扰和幸福之间的关联,解释了两者中很大一部分的差异。值得注意的是,而更多的情感参与生态危机(即,气候变化和放射性水)通常预测更糟糕的心理健康结果,我们发现,在独立的中国模型中,战争危机的影响方向对心理健康有积极的影响。此外,我们发现,在多国模型中,媒体接触介导了战争对心理困扰的负面影响,以及独立中国模式中的积极心理健康。此外,自然连通性成为一个有效的中介,有效地减轻情绪参与某些危机对心理健康的不利影响,比如放射性水和气候变化。
结论:我们的研究结果为全球危机中情感参与的细微差别动态及其对不同全球背景下年轻人心理健康结果的影响提供了有价值的见解。需要进一步的研究来了解正在进行的和新的全球危机对青少年心理健康的复杂负面未来前景的贡献,以确定可以减轻这一全球挑战的影响的有效沟通和干预策略。
背景:香港研究资助局,中国。
BACKGROUND: New global crises are emerging, while existing global crises remain unabated. Coping with climate change, the radioactive water released into the Pacific Ocean subsequent to the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East (hereafter referred to as the wars) as individual crises can negatively affect the psychological health of young people, but little is known about the compounded impact of multiple crises. We aimed to examine: (1) the emotional responses of young people towards each individual crisis, (2) how aggregate levels of emotional engagement in global crises might pose different potential trajectories in psychological health, and (3) the protective or exacerbating role of media exposure and nature connectedness as mediators on psychological health outcomes of young people.
METHODS: We conducted a cross-national online survey among young people (aged 18-29 years) from China, Portugal, South Africa, the USA, and the UK. We adopted stratified purposive sampling and distributed the survey using online platforms (www.wenjuan.com and www.prolific.com). Individuals were eligible for inclusion in our analysis if they were literate in Chinese or English and had no mental disorders diagnosed within the past 12 months. Participants were asked questions on their demographic characteristics and time spent on social media, including proportion of time exposed to media pertaining to global crises of interest, and they completed surveys based on validated scales that measure depression, anxiety, stress, and wellbeing, as well as emotional responses to each global crisis and nature relatedness. We assessed the survey results using descriptive statistics, ANOVA tests, cluster analysis for individual emotional responses, and structural equation modelling for the aggregate measure of emotional engagement towards individual global crises.
RESULTS: Between Oct 20 and Nov 3, 2023, 2579 individuals participated in the survey, of whom 400 participants from each country (200 male and 200 female participants) were included in our analysis (mean age 24·36 years [SD 2·86]). The mean emotional engagement varied between the global crises of interest (on a scale from 0 to 68, where 0 indicates no emotional response and 68 indicates strong emotional responses across 17 different emotions; wars: 32·42 [SD 14·57]; climate change: 28·79 [14·17]; radioactive water: 21·26 [16·08]), and emotional engagement also varied by country; for instance, for respondents from China, mean emotional engagement in radioactive water was relatively high (39·15 [10·72]) compared with the other countries, and for respondents from the USA, engagement with the wars was relatively low (29·45 [15·78]). We found significant variations in the level of emotional engagement between different crises, with distinct emotional profiles observed among individual countries. To assess the role of media exposure and nature connectedness on psychological outcomes, using structural equation modelling, we constructed a multi-country model comprising Portugal, South Africa, the USA, and the UK, and a standalone model for China. These models elucidated associations between emotional engagement and psychological distress and wellbeing, explaining substantial portions of the variance in both. Notably, while greater emotional engagement in the ecological crises (ie, climate change and radioactive water) generally predicted worse psychological health outcomes, we found the direction of effect for war crises to have positive outcomes for mental health in the standalone China model. Additionally, we found that media exposure mediated the negative effect of wars on psychological distress in the multi-country model, and positive psychological wellbeing in the standalone China model. Moreover, nature connectedness emerged as a potent mediator, effectively mitigating the adverse mental health effects of emotional engagement with some crises, such as radioactive water and climate change.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings offer valuable insights into the nuanced dynamics of emotional engagement in global crises and its implications for mental health outcomes among young people across diverse global contexts. Further research is needed to understand the contribution of ongoing and new global crises towards a compounded negative future outlook on young people\'s mental health to identify effective communication and intervention strategies that can mitigate the effect of this global challenge.
BACKGROUND: Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, China.