Climate Stress, Psychosocial Distress, and the Emergence of Resilience: A Multilevel Conceptual Framework

Author: Ammcise Apply

Field of Study: Community Research and Action

Faculty Mentors: Monica Adams

Easel: 40

Timeslot: Afternoon

Abstract: Climate change is increasingly recognized as a psychosocial stressor, with growing evidence linking climate-related exposures to adverse mental health outcomes, particularly among vulnerable populations. Yet these implications remain underexplored within public health scholarship in transnational contexts. This study presents a conceptual framework examining how climate-related stress may shape psychosocial distress and resilience among Haitian women living in Florida who maintain close ties with communities in Haiti. Situated within public health scholarship and informed by environmental psychology, and grounded in eco-social theory and feminist political ecology, the framework conceptualizes climate stress as mediated by gendered structural vulnerability and transnational relational pressures. It further proposes that psychosocial distress and adaptive coping emerge as coexisting processes through which resilience develops across individual, relational, and community levels. Developed through a dissertation-level literature review, this framework informs future mixed-methods research and gender-responsive interventions for climate-related health and psychosocial outcomes.