ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2021
New Insights Into the Relationship Between Drought and Mental Health Emerging From the Australian Rural Mental Health Study.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Lethal Connection: Investigating the Relationship of Drought Conditions on Firearm and Nonfirearm Suicides Among U.S. Adults.GeoHealth · 2026Article
- Mental health impacts of climate-related hazards among farmers: evidence from a community-based study.Journal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England) · 2026Article
- The overlapping effects of climate change and conflict on mental health of vulnerable populations: a scoping review.Conflict and health · 2026Review
- Drought and cognitive function in older adults: results from the Mexican health and aging study.Environment international · 2026Article
- Economic burden of drought using the life satisfaction approach: A case study of slum dwellers in southeast Iran.PloS one · 2026Article
- The Mental Health of Farmers and Farmworkers Impacted by Flooding and Drought: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Psychological capital and farmer families' quality of life under the climate variability conditions.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Effects of Environmental Factors on General Human Health: A Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- The impact of climate change-related disasters on mental health and epigenetics: a narrative review.Frontiers in epigenetics and epigenomics · 2024Review
- Environmental pollution and extreme weather conditions: insights into the effect on mental health.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Review
- Health and climate change: adaptation policy in Aotearoa New Zealand.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2023Review
- Investigating the Health Impacts of Climate Change among People with Pre-Existing Mental Health Problems: A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Mental health of vulnerable groups experiencing a drought or bushfire: A systematic review.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2023Review
- Climate Change and Mental Health: A Review of Empirical Evidence, Mechanisms and Implications.Atmosphere · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
While it is recognized that drought affects mental health, few population-based longitudinal studies quantify this relationship. In this study, we investigate the effects of drought on mental health in a rural population, and how these effects change with continued exposure to drought conditions. Using a panel dataset consisting of 6,519 observations from the Australian Rural Mental Health Study, we found a non-linear (inverted U-shape) relationship between drought exposure and mental health. Specifically, people experienced an increase of psychological distress for the first 2.5-3 years of drought, after which time this distress dissipates. These effects were maintained after controlling for demographic, social, and environmental factors. We also found that while psychological distress decreases in the later stages of drought, this does not necessarily mean people have good mental health because, for example, factors such as life satisfaction decreased as drought persisted. This is important as it highlights the need for sustained support to mitigate the long-term effects of drought on mental health that persist after the drought has apparently finished.
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