Factors affecting university students' awareness and anxiety levels towards global climate change

Objective: Global climate change is an important environmental problem that directly affects the sustainability of all living things, but also the sustainability of all living things. Global warming as a result of technological developments, industrialization, environmental pollution and population growth causes serious imbalances in many ecosystems, which affects human health indirectly or directly. The main purpose of this study; To determine the awareness and anxiety levels of university students for global climate change, and to examine the relationship between various societies and individual factors that may affect these levels. Material and Methods: Within the scope of the research, in 2024-2025 academic year, it consists of a total of 394 volunteer students (209 men, 185 women) studying at different universities in Türkiye (Iğdır University, Yalova University, Bitlis Eren University, Trabzon University, Bandırma University, Fırat University, Çanakkale 18 Mart University, Kilis 17 December University, Ordu University). In the collection of data, a tool consisting of two parts was used. In the first section, the information reflecting the demographic characteristics of the participants is obtained through the personal information form; In the second part, the "Awareness of Global Climate Change" and the awareness levels of the students and the anxiety levels of anxiety levels were evaluated with the help of "Climate Change Anxiety Scale". The statistical analysis of the data was performed through the SPSS package program. The level of significance in the analysis was accepted as p <0.05. In order to test the research hypotheses, T-Testi, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied for independent samples for the evaluation of quantitative data. Pearson correlation analysis was preferred to examine the relationships between variables; When significant relationships were detected, linear regression analysis was tried to be determined by procedure levels. Results: According to the findings obtained; Statistically significant differences were observed between the gender status of the students, whether they know the effects of climate change on health and the level of awareness of the university variables they study and the level of awareness towards global climate change (p <0.05). However, there was no statistically significant difference between the club membership in climate change, the status of the course/education on the subject, the age, the level of education, the settlement in which it lived, the perceived economic situation and the level of awareness and the level of education (p> 0.05). When examined in terms of anxiety level, there was no significant difference between gender, the situation of climate change itself, whether the effects of the issue on health are known and the university variables and climate change anxiety scale scores (p <0.05), and some other level of anxiety and anxiety levels (p> 0.05). In addition, it was found that male students participating in the study have higher awareness and anxiety levels compared to women, compared to those who do not take courses related to climate change, and those who concern the climate change. Conclusion: As a result, the general awareness and anxiety levels of the students participating in the research were moderate; In particular, it was determined that male students experienced higher awareness and anxiety than women. In line with these results, it is thought that regular information activities to be carried out in the youth may make significant contributions to increasing awareness levels against global climate change. Keywords: Awareness, Climate Change, Anxiety, Student