Climate Change Related Future Anxiety and Psychological Well Being Among University Students in Pakistan: The Potential Roles of Environmental Helplessness and Psychological Flexibility

Abstract

Climate change is a source of material insecurity and a growing concern for mental health, yet its psychological effects cannot be reduced to a single diagnosis or level of worry. This critical narrative review examines what is known about climate-related future anxiety among young adults, with a particular focus on university students in Pakistan. It brings together international studies, a recent Pakistan based university study, evidence syntheses, and authoritative climate assessments to consider two possible explanatory processes: environmental helplessness and psychological flexibility. In a Pakistani university sample of 300 students, climate anxiety showed a small positive association with solastalgia (r = .215, p < .001). A wider meta-analysis of 94 studies involving 170,747 participants likewise reports an association between climate anxiety and reduced well-being, alongside a positive association with climate action. These findings suggest that climate concern may be distressing without always resulting in withdrawal. We argue that perceived inability to influence environmental outcomes may help explain when concern becomes psychologically burdensome, whereas psychological flexibility may help people live with uncertainty while continuing meaningful activity. These propositions have not been tested as a combined model in the studies reviewed here. The article identifies measurement and contextual issues, especially the risk of treating climate concern as illness or overlooking differences in hazard exposure and institutional support. It concludes with priorities for future secondary-data synthesis and empirical research in Pakistan.