Current Psychology - Call for Papers: Parenting in the Age of Climate Change

Guest Editor: Prof. Nicola Carone, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
 

Overview

The accelerating climate crisis is not only reshaping physical ecosystems—it is also redefining the social, emotional, and psychological environments in which families exist and raise children. From rising temperatures and extreme weather events to prolonged droughts, food insecurity, and environmental displacement, climate-related hazards present both acute shocks and chronic stressors that deeply affect family life. These ecological threats are contributing to increased risks of physical and mental health problems among parents and children, disrupting parenting practices, straining relationships, and prompting major life decisions—including whether or when to have children.

Climate change is increasingly recognized as a major determinant of psychological well-being across the life course. Parents in particular are navigating the terrain of diverse eco-emotions, including climate anxiety, grief, and guilt—while simultaneously managing their children’s emotional responses and developmental needs. Parental concerns range from fears about their children’s safety and long-term future to dilemmas about how to engage children in conversations about environmental collapse without inducing despair. These challenges are especially acute for primary caregiving mothers, caregivers in vulnerable communities, and families in low-resource settings, where climate change compounds existing social and economic inequalities.

Moreover, the developmental timing of climate exposures matters. Research shows that climate-related stressors affect early childhood brain development, behavior, and emotional regulation, while family systems—particularly parenting quality and caregiver responsiveness—serve as key moderators of risk and resilience. Parents thus play a central role not only in protecting their children from harm but also in fostering psychological resilience, environmental identity, and adaptive coping in the next generation. At the same time, parents are increasingly emerging as social and political actors in the climate movement—engaging in climate activism, shaping intergenerational narratives, and reframing parenting as a form of climate justice work. These shifts demand a rethinking of traditional psychological models of parenting, family stress, and resilience in the context of escalating global ecological threats.

This Collection seeks to advance scholarly understanding of how climate change influences parenting practices, beliefs, and mental health, as well as how parents support children in navigating climate-related challenges. We welcome diverse psychological perspectives—from developmental and clinical psychology to family, environmental, and community psychology—and encourage interdisciplinary submissions that connect research, policy, and practice.

Scope and Topics

We invite submissions that engage critically and empirically with the psychological dimensions of parenting and becoming parents in the era of climate change. Papers should illuminate how ecological uncertainty and environmental degradation shape the cognitive, emotional, behavioral, identity, and meaning-making aspects of parenting, as well as the developmental trajectories of children and adolescents.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

1. Psychological Impacts on Parents:
   • Eco-anxiety, climate grief, and anticipatory stress in relation to children’s futures
   • Cognitive appraisals of climate risk and their influence on parenting styles and decisions
   • Parental burnout in climate-vulnerable regions and communities
   • Gendered dimensions of climate-related psychological burden, particularly among mothers and primary caregivers
   • Resilience, coping strategies, and meaning-making processes in the face of ecological challenges
2. Parent–Child Communication and Emotional Socialization:
   • How parents talk to children about climate change, environmental threats, and sustainability
   • Balancing truth-telling and protecting children’s emotional well-being
   • Strategies to nurture hope, agency, and problem-solving while acknowledging global crises
   • Effects of climate-related discussions on children’s mental health, environmental identity, and prosocial behavior
3.  Parenting Under Environmental Stressors:
   • Parenting in contexts of displacement, disaster recovery, or chronic environmental hazards 
   • Interplay between climate-induced economic hardship and parental psychological functioning
   • Cross-cultural variations in parenting practices under climate stress
   • Links between climate-related stress and increased risks for family violence or child maltreatment
4. Intergenerational Perspectives and Values Transmission:
   • Modeling environmental responsibility and activism for children
   • Transmission of ecological values, ethics, and stewardship across generations
   • Tensions between parents and children in environmental attitudes and behaviors
   • Parental identity and its role in fostering children’s climate engagement
5.  Reproductive and Future-Oriented Decision-Making:
   • Psychological drivers of decisions to delay or forgo having children in light of climate concerns
   • Moral reasoning, perceived responsibility, and identity shifts related to climate-conscious parenting
   • The intersection of climate change with fertility, reproductive justice, and existential considerations
6.  Climate Resilience and Protective Factors in Family Systems:
   • Individual and collective coping strategies among parents and families facing climate adversity
   • The role of social support, cultural values, and community infrastructure in buffering stress
   • Positive adaptations and narratives of meaning-making and hope
   • Interventions to enhance parental self-efficacy and psychological flexibility in the face of ecological change
7. Intervention, Support, and Policy-Relevant Research:
   • Psychological interventions to support parents coping with climate-related stress
   • Role of schools, communities, and health systems in fostering parental resilience
   • Development and evaluation of parent-focused environmental education and mental health programs
   • Evidence-based recommendations for policymakers to address parental and child mental health in climate policy

We especially welcome studies that apply developmental, clinical, family, environmental, and community psychology frameworks, and those that integrate interdisciplinary perspectives to deepen our understanding of how climate change is reshaping family life.
 

Manuscript Types

We invite empirical studies (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods), brief reports, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses. Interdisciplinary contributions with clear psychological implications are strongly encouraged.

Important Dates

Manuscript submission opens: 15 September 2025

Submission deadline: 15 June 2026
 

Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts should be prepared according to the Current Psychology author guidelines, available here: https://link.springer.com/journal/12144/submission-guidelines.

All submissions will undergo double-masked peer review.

When submitting to the journal’s online system, please select “Collection: Parenting in the Age of Climate Change” from the drop-down menu.
 

Contact Information

For inquiries about this Collection, please contact:

Prof. Nicola Carone, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy, nicola.carone@uniroma2.it