Solastalgia and the Mental Effect of Climate Change

A Perspective of Lagos State University Students

Abstract

This study investigated students' perception of solastalgia and the mental affects of climate change among Lagos State University Students. Three (3) hypotheses were formulated and tested. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. Three hundred (300) undergraduates (males = 143 and female =157) with mean age of 21 .65 of Lagos State University selected through simple random sampling technique from three (3) departments were used as samples. A self- developed questionnaire titled Environmental Distress Questionnaire (EDQ) with reliability coefficient of 0.68 was used to collect data for the study. Student T-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistical procedures with significance level fixed at 0.05 were used for data analysis. Results indicated that there was no significance difference in the perception of the various categories of students as regards the mental affects of climate change. On the basis of the findings. it was recommended that mental health needs of the people should be given serious thought and consideration by those concerned at all times and that psycho-social implications of climate change should be understood so as to serve as a starting point for informed action to prevent dangerous climate change at individual, community and societal level.