Peer-reviewed article
Climate change impacts on child and adolescent health and well-being: A narrative review
Kerrie Proulx, Bernadette M. E. G. Daelmans, Valentina Baltag, Prerna Banati ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This narrative review examines how climate change affects children's and adolescents' health and well-being globally. The authors systematically reviewed peer-reviewed evidence from 2012-2023, primarily meta-analyses and systematic reviews, to identify impacts across multiple domains. The review found consistent evidence that climate-related events increase mental health problems, respiratory and infectious diseases, malnutrition, and disruption to family caregiving, but evidence on violence and learning outcomes remains limited.
Key points
- Climate-related events are associated with increases in posttraumatic stress and other mental health disorders in children and adolescents
- Increases in asthma, respiratory illnesses, diarrheal diseases and vector-borne diseases linked to climate events
- Climate change associated with increases in malnutrition and reduced growth in children
- Disruptions to responsive caregiving and family functioning occur, linked to poor caregiver mental health and loss of resources
- Evidence of violence against children in climate-related disaster contexts is inconclusive, and there is a lack of evidence on climate change associations with children's learning outcomes
Limitations
The review cannot establish causal pathways between climate-change-related events and health outcomes. Evidence on violence and learning outcomes is insufficient, limiting understanding of climate impacts across all domains of child well-being.
Abstract
Background: Worldwide, the climate is changing and affecting the health and well-being of children in many ways. In this review, we provided an overview of how climate change-related events may affect child and adolescent health and well-being, including children's mental and physical health, nutrition, safety and security, learning opportunities, and family caregiving and connectedness. Methods: In this narrative review, we highlighted and discussed peer-reviewed evidence from 2012-23, primarily from meta-analyses and systematic reviews. The search strategy used a large and varied number of search terms across three academic databases to identify relevant literature. Results: There was consistent evidence across systematic reviews of impact on four themes. Climate-related events are associated with a) increases in posttraumatic stress and other mental health disorders in children and adolescents, b) increases in asthma, respiratory illnesses, diarrheal diseases and vector-borne diseases, c) increases in malnutrition and reduced growth and d) disruptions to responsive caregiving and family functioning, which can be linked to poor caregiver mental health, stress and loss of resources. Evidence of violence against children in climate-related disaster contexts is inconclusive. There is a lack of systematic review evidence on the associations between climate change and children's learning outcomes. Conclusions: Systematic review evidence consistently points to negative associations between climate change and children's physical and mental health, well-being, and family functioning. Yet, much remains unknown about the causal pathways linking climate-change-related events and mental and physical health, responsive relationships and connectedness, nutrition, and learning in children and adolescents. This evidence is urgently needed so that adverse health and other impacts from climate change can be prevented or minimised through well-timed and appropriate action.