Emmanuel-Sathya Gray

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety and depression rates spiked across the United States and continued to climb after August 2020. Research from the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that resilience and meaning-and-purpose were associated with positive mental health outcomes in this context. Little is understood about how this association persists after more than 5 months of ongoing disaster exposure, as was the case for the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal was to examine this relationship in adults in Southwest Ohio. Methods: Resilience, meaning-and-purpose, anxiety, and depression symptom surveys were completed electronically from August 1, 2020, to November 30, 2020. Regression analyses examined relationships between these factors and sociodemographic variables. Results: Participants (N=98) reported anxiety and depression in mild ranges. Age was negatively associated with anxiety (p=.03). Meaning-and-purpose was negatively associated with both anxiety (p=.002) and depression (p<.001). Resilience was negatively associated with depression (p=.001). Further, reporting a mental health condition moderated the relationship between resilience and anxiety (p=.03), such that higher resilience was associated with higher anxiety in individuals reporting a mental health condition. Conclusion: Our study found associations between anxiety and depression symptoms and meaning-and-purpose. Our study also found associations between anxiety and depression symptoms and resilience. The moderated relationship between resilience and anxiety symptoms supports the importance of assessing mental health status, particularly during public health emergencies. Regardless of mental health status, higher meaning-and-purpose was associated with lower anxiety and depression. Additional research is needed to better understand the role of meaning-and-purpose and resilience during future public health challenges.

BACKGROUND As with other natural disasters, including epidemics in recent history, rates of anxiety and depression increased significantly at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies of resilience and meaning and purpose during the early months of COVID-19 found that these positive psychology constructs are generally negatively associated with anxiety and depression. However, there are risk factors for resilience that may alter this association, such as having a pre-existing mental health condition. OBJECTIVE Our goals were to examine the relationship between strengths-based psychological factors (resilience and meaning-and-purpose) and anxiety and depression symptoms, 5-6 months following the US COVID-19 emergency declaration (August-September, 2020) in a sample of adults in the Midwest. METHODS Adults (≥18 years of age) were recruited via flyers, emails, and word of mouth to participate in daily polls assessing attitudes about the pandemic and monthly surveys measuring anxiety, depression, resilience, and meaning-and-purpose. A study community advisory board identified local resources and recommended new poll questions to coincide with changes in pandemic trends. The current study examines mental health survey data from participants who enrolled between August 1–September 30, 2020. RESULTS Participants (N=106; Asian (0.9%), Black (45.3%), Latine/Hispanic (6.6%), White (42.5%), Mixed/Multiple (2.8%), and Other (2.8%)) reported anxiety and depression in the mild ranges. In a regression analysis, meaning-and-purpose (P=.002) was significantly, negatively associated with anxiety, and both resilience (BRS; P=.02) and meaning-and-purpose (P<.001) were significantly, negatively associated with depression over and above relevant demographic covariates. Additionally, the moderation between having a self-reported, pre-existing mental health condition and resilience (P=.01) was significantly associated with anxiety, such that those who reported a mental health condition tended towards greater anxiety as resilience increased, while those who did not report a mental health condition tended towards lower anxiety as resilience increased. CONCLUSIONS Consistent with previous literature from the initial pandemic period, our data found that resilience and meaning-and-purpose were significantly, negatively associated with mental health outcomes. Furthermore, the association between resilience and anxiety was moderated by having a self-reported, pre-existing mental health condition. Therefore, in studying resilience in a disaster context, having a pre-existing mental health condition is a salient risk factor to consider. Findings specifically contribute to our understanding of resilience during a longer-term disaster (e.g., pandemic). Further research is warranted to better understand how the protective benefits of resilience may be differentially experienced by those with and without a pre-existing mental health condition.

Increasing recognition of the multi-faceted injustices of climate change has led to growing interest in the actions people can take to advance climate justice (CJ). Yet, within the empirical literature on climate change action by everyday people, limited research has considered climate justice as a framework for action. To explore the current state of the literature on this critical topic, this systematic review examined 74 peer-reviewed articles (2008–2020) focused on CJ action. Within this rapidly-growing literature, we found that – in contrast to traditional definitions of action, which often emphasize individual behavioural shifts with consequences for the environment – people’s involvement in CJ action was largely framed as a collective pursuit with consequences for humanity. Moreover, in this multidisciplinary literature with data collected across 69 countries, CJ action was employed by children, youth, adults, and elders in diverse forms – from activism (e.g. protests) to community-based initiatives (e.g. restoration projects) – aimed at systemic change to prevent future climate-driven harms.

Growing recognition of the multi-faceted injustices of climate change has resulted in shifting public and policy discourse around how to understand and address climate change, yet justice considerations are rarely present in climate change education (CCE). With aims of bringing visibility to existing efforts and building a foundation for more widespread justice-driven CCE, this systematic review examined how justice frameworks are being employed in a range of CCE contexts, within and beyond the classroom. Analyses of 55 peer-reviewed articles with data from 57 countries published between 2007 and 2020 demonstrate that the empirical literature on justice in CCE has grown significantly in recent years. Notably, justice-driven CCE in this review took place within and beyond STEM education settings, was fueled more by people-focused aims (e.g. advancing equity) compared to planet-focused aims (e.g. protecting the environment), and encompassed a remarkable diversity of educational processes, goals, and outcomes—with learners of all ages—across formal, community-based, and activist learning contexts. Findings have implications for scholars, educators, and practitioners across disciplines committed to educating for justice in the face of climate change.