Where there’s smoke, there isn’t necessarily fire – young people’s diverse experiences of the 2019-2020 “Black Summer” bushfires in Australia

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I. Walsh, Z. Leviston, T. Huang, E Barry, T. Tsheten This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7953155/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The 2019–2020 “Black Summer” bushfires had substantial direct impacts on property and lives, and unprecedented indirect impacts across Australia on physical and mental health due to a smoke plume that covered much of the country and persisted for over thirteen weeks. It is well-recognised that children and adolescents are vulnerable to natural disasters, and that their experience during and after a crisis is distinct from those of adults. However, the voice of those at the liminal transition between adolescence and adulthood (aged fifteen to nineteen) is unheard in the current literature surrounding bushfire experience. Twelve young people currently living in the Australian Capital Territory participated in focus groups and/or interviews to discuss their lived experience of the “Black Summer” bushfire. These people were either aged 15–19 years currently, or were within that age range when the fires occurred (16–23 years, mean age 19, 50% female). We took an open-enquiry inductive qualitative approach to understand their experience as they chose to explain it. We found young people’s experience is more closely aligned to that of adults than children, but framed either explicitly or implicitly within the family unit. Results suggest that young people experience solastalgia following bushfire. Bushfire young people agency autonomy solastalgia ecological grief Figures Figure 1 Introduction Although the 2019–2020 “Black summer” bushfires were neither the largest nor most deadly bushfire crisis in living memory in Australia, their social impact was unprecedented (Chester, 2020 ; Looi et al., 2020 ). An estimated eighty percent of the population of Australia were affected in some way (Hughes et al., 2020 ). One hundred and eighty six thousand square kilometres of land, including forests and other vegetation burned (Filkov et al., 2020 ), and almost three million Australian adults were directly exposed to bushfires through property loss, property damage, or needing to evacuate (Biddle et al., 2020 ). Direct exposure to bushfire has been associated with elevated rates of psychological distress and morbidity including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (Bryant et al., 2018 ; Koopman et al., 1994 ; Marshall et al., 2007 ). Indirect exposure to bushfire is also a concern for physical and mental health. An estimated 10.4 million people were anxious or worried about the safety of family or friends due to the “Black summer” bushfires (Biddle et al., 2020 ). The bushfires produced a smoke plume that covered much of the country that persisted for over thirteen weeks (Khaykin et al., 2020 ; UN, 2020 ), impacting an estimated 11.3 million eleven million three hundred thousand adults (Biddle et al., 2020 ). This smoke exposure resulted in an estimated four hundred deaths, almost four and a half thousand hospitalisations, psychological distress, and a general heightened sense of vulnerability in the home and other places previously considered safe (Borchers Arriagada et al., 2020 ; Williamson et al., 2023 ). The outcomes of both direct and indirect effects of bushfire are not evenly distributed across communities, but are concentrated among those experiencing recent life stressors (Bryant et al., 2018 ) and subpopulations including women, parents, and those with pre-existing medical conditions (Rodney Harris et al., 2021 ). This demonstrates the importance of understanding the experiences of different subgroups that may be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of bushfire, and how they respond to and navigate environmental loss accompanying severe bushfire event. A sense of connection to environment is part of human wellbeing (Russell et al., 2013 ). Solastalgia is existential distress associated with changes to the environment, which are perceived as changes for the worse (Albrecht, 2006 ). Originally developed to characterize experiences of drought and the environmental consequences of open-cut coal mining in Australia (Albrecht et al., 2007 ), it can be distinguished from forward-focussed worry about the safety of the environment (often termed ‘climate anxiety’ or ‘eco-anxiety’) by a nostalgia-adjacent focus on the comparison of the past state of the environment with its current state. Solastalgia is not a mental illness, but rather, a component of a normative range of reactions to negatively perceived environmental changes. The “Black Summer” bushfires caused substantial ecological loss. Alongside damage to vegetation, it is estimated that over three billion native reptiles, mammals, birds and frogs were in the path of the fire, at least a third of which died (WWF, 2020 ). Leviston et al. ( 2023 ) investigated solastalgia associated with the “Black Summer” bushfires in adult residents from the Australian Capital Territory and surrounding regions immediately after the bushfire, and with a nationally representative sample of Australians half a year after bushfire. They found solastalgia was present among those impacted by bushfire even six months after the crisis, and that it had a small but consistent association with anxiety and distress. Given the nostalgia-adjacent nature of solastalgia, it is unclear if this may also be the case for young people, particularly given their under-representation in the broader solastalgia literature, as identified in Galway et al.'s ( 2019 ) scoping review. The concept of what is variously termed adolescence, youth, and young adulthood refers to a liminal developmental stage that can be characterised by physical, psychological, and social development in which a person is re-framed from dependent child to agentic adult (Forbes et al., 2012 ; Hazen et al., 2008 ; Kapur, 2015 ). The specific timing of this transition varies across time and cultures, with the onset defined as early as 10 years, and transition to adulthood as old as 20 years, and with substantial overlap with related concepts of childhood and emerging adulthood (Sawyer et al., 2018 ). In the Australian Capital Territory, a fifteen-year-old is held criminally responsible, can drive, and can undertake part-time work, but they are not permitted to leave school, drink alcohol, or leave the care (and consequently authority) of their parents or guardians (Raising Children Network, 2022 ). While legally an adult, it is increasingly common for people aged eighteen to still be living with or otherwise financially dependent on their parents as they undertake further education (Woodman et al., 2024 ). The unifying characteristic of interest to the current study is this tension between capacity, agency, and autonomy, thus we focus on ages 15 to 19 and refer to people within or near that age range as “young people”. There is a notable lack of evidence regarding the impact of bushfire on the specific age range of interest (Walsh & Tsheten, under review), but evidence pertaining to similar age groups in the context of other natural disasters suggests young people tend to be more affected than adults (Beames et al., 2023 ), and that they experience natural disasters and post-disaster recovery differently from children and adults (Forbes et al., 2012 ; Hall & Ryan, 2021 ). In their systematic review of post-disaster recovery in adults and youth (defined as age 6 through 18), Norris et al. ( 2002 ), found both young people and adults were likely to have marked increases in post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, non-specific distress and health problems. Perhaps reflecting developing independence, they found children post-natural disaster tended to be more dependent and ‘clingier’ with parents and caregivers, while adolescents engaged in more disruptive behaviours (though this was not necessarily reflected in school records). There is a sizable literature surrounding the detrimental impact of negative post-disaster coping in adolescents (Witt et al., 2024 ), wherein coping mechanisms less available to children, such as substance use, has received particular attention (e.g. Reijneveld et al., 2003 ). In a qualitative study following post-disaster recovery from bushfires in young adults (designed as age 18 through 27), predominant themes were the importance of friends, the complex situation of family both as source of support and stress, and autonomy (Forbes et al., 2012 ). The aim of the current study was to address the knowledge gap surrounding the lived experience and post-disaster recovery of young people following the 2019/2020 “Black Summer” bushfires. Our systematic review of literature (Walsh & Tsheten, under review) revealed the sparse research focusing on this age range tended to be quantitative explorations of physical e.g. Mirabelli et al. ( 2009 ) and mental (e.g. Eshel, 2016 ) health outcomes selected a-priori. Although we anticipated themes of agency, autonomy and solastalgia to emerge, this did not frame our questioning or analysis. As Hall and Ryan ( 2021 ) note, young people are experts in their own lives. To privilege young people’s viewpoint, we took an open-enquiry inductive qualitative approach to understand their experience as they chose to explain it. Methods Participants The Youth Coalition of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) identified N = 12 young people currently living in the ACT or surrounding region, either aged 15 to 19 years old, or within this age range during the 2019–2020 “Black Summer” bushfires. The final sample was aged between 16 and 23 years (median 19 years), corresponding to ages 11 through 19 during the “Black Summer” bushfires. Six identified as female, three as male, two as non-binary, and one chose not to share their gender identity. All participants completed the full interview or focus group session and reported no undue distress at follow-up. Materials The semi-structured protocol focussed on this question: “What is your experience of bushfires?”. Each discussion (either interview or focus group) had at least one researcher and one staff member from the Youth Coalition of the ACT present. In focus groups, participants took turns sharing their experiences, and were provided space to organically discuss each other’s responses. When conversation faltered (in focus groups) or when the young person had finished their answer (in interviews) the researcher or Youth Coalition staff member asked follow-up queries based on the young people’s prior answers, of the form “You mentioned you needed to [action]. Could you tell us more about that?”, or “When [reported thing happened], how were you feeling?”. Procedure The ethical aspects of this study were approved by the ANU Human Research Ethics Committee (protocol 2023/1376). Young people were provided the choice of participation via in-person focus group, or interview. One young person opted for an interview, one attended both a focus group and an interview, three attended both focus groups, and the remaining attended a single focus group. Focus groups were held in the Youth Coalition of the ACT headquarters, commencing at 5:30pm and running for two hours with a meal provided. Interviews were conducted online via Zoom. Following an a-prior distress management protocol, at least one member of the Youth Coalition of the ACT was present to monitor young person wellbeing in all discussions. All researchers present had current Working with Vulnerable People clearance. A small monetary incentive for participation was provided to all participants prior to confirming consent, and it was made clear participants could withdraw at any time and retain that incentive. Following mutual agreement of code of conduct (in particular, inviting young people to indicate topics that should be avoided or approached with sensitivity), all participants provided informed consent, without the requirement of parent/caregiver consent for those aged under eighteen. Participants were provided the option to verbally discuss their experiences, and were provided with stationary to allow them to share writings or drawings if they chose. Focus group discussions were audio recorded with physical devices; while online interviews were recorded using Open Broadcast Studio. The focus group recordings were manually transcribed by EW, whereas interview recordings were transcribed using Otter.ai and verified by a researcher (EW). Young people were given the opportunity to review and correct verified and de-identified transcripts. They were also contacted by the Youth Coalition of the ACT the day after the focus group or interview, to check that the discussion had not caused any lasting distress. Transcripts and any written or drawn content underwent inductive qualitative content analysis, per Elo and Kyngäs ( 2008 ). Data availability statement The data generated through this research will not be publicly available, in accordance with confidentiality protocols and ethical obligations concerning sensitive disclosures from participants under the age of 18. Results Bushfires are always a pretty present part of my life. 2019 was totally something else. I think in terms of the severity, and the huge element of risk, um, the amount of smoke, but also just how long it lasted. It lasted, like months! The conceptual map resulting from inductive qualitative content analysis can be seen in Fig. 1 . Proximity to fire Young people’s proximity to the 2019–2020 “Black Summer” bushfires spanned being in a different country at the onset of the bushfires, through being exposed to indirect effects such as smoke exposure and worry about family and friends, to direct property loss. Those not in Australia as the bushfires began discussed the importance of clear and timely information regarding the status of their communities. They expressed frustration at being unable to consult satellite imagery to check if their home was safe because the smoke was “covering the entire quarter of the earth” . Among those in Australia experiencing prolonged exposure to smoke, but who were not directly impacted by fires, the predominant theme was the sensory experience and confinement. Many referred to red or orange light outside, and the smell of the smoke. Interestingly, themes of anxiety or worry were largely absent, with more of a focus on frustration of being unable to go to school or socialise, and uncertainty surrounding how long it would take to return to normal life. Well, yeah, when I first saw the smoke I was like, well it wasn’t good. But it wasn’t good, but I thought it would go away pretty quickly so I thought it wasn’t like a big issue. I was like, it’s fine. But then like, it got like weeks. The inability to socialize was particularly disruptive for participants undergoing life transitions. I was just going to a new school, um, so nobody knew each other anyway. So, I kind of left all my old friends behind in this experience. And [I was] sort of were delayed in making friends. Only one young person mentioned a physical consequence of smoke. I’d go outside and my eyes would start going really watery and it would look like I was crying but I’m not crying, I’m dripping. It was really annoying. Anxiety and worry were markedly more present among those who were not personally directly impacted by bushfires, but whose family and friends were directly impacted. The young people exhibited empathy for the emotional state of their friends, but also a clear understanding of the relevant context (e.g. emergency response capacity, community resources). Family was a salient theme, with young people’s worry extending to their friends’ family members. I remember being scared for him, ‘caus his grandparents on both sides live with him. […] So, like if something was to happen, they kind of didn’t – they wouldn’t have had enough time to do anything quick enough. So I was worried for that, but luckily nothing happened. Her parents were like ‘We’re not letting our property burn!’. That’s a very scary situation to be in, when you’ve got like, family and may need to evacuate. Those young people concerned for the safety of their own family members reflected on the importance of being able to communicate with them as circumstances evolved. [Mum] got trapped in [coastal place name]. And yeah, ended up spending most of that time in the evacuation centre or the beach, sending me photos of the sky being totally crimson. Those who experience direct impacts of bushfire shared memories of rapidly changing conditions and uncertainty, as well as community resilience. Experiences were expressed almost narratively – a chronologically coherent series of events beginning with imminent bushfire contact, including a mixture of sensory information (similar to those whose experience was limited to smoke). Events unfolded through phases of alert, watchful waiting, evacuation, waiting in alternative accommodation, and eventual return. Interestingly, when sharing these narratives, the young people often framed themselves and their response to the situation as part of a collective at either the family or local community level, with language shifting from “I” to “we” and “ours”. On our street, only two houses survived. Ours was not one of them. Urban/rural distinction Those young people living in urban environments were more likely to have been indirectly impacted by bushfire, while those living in rural areas were more likely to have been directly impacted. In focus groups, after sharing their respective experiences, a number of young people with urban experiences expressed curiosity about their peers with rural experiences. Urban young people tended to be surprised at the degree of ambiguity and confusion among rural people during moments of crisis. [participant A] it was like three days later we all got the text message saying “if you get this text message you need to evacuate” and we were like, “too late, thanks for letting us know”. It was quite – at that point it just hit, the absurdity, and we were just like “ha ha”. [participant B] wait, so you got a message to evacuate three days after you evacuated? [participant A] Yeah, yeah. [participant B] but what would have happened if you didn't evacuate!? One of the interviewed young people had experience of bushfire in both a rural and urban setting. Synthesising across this interview and multiple discussions in focus groups relevant to the urban/rural divide, young people from a rural background had a more active approach to bushfire preparation and monitoring, which was supported by greater local community preparedness. In rural areas, bushfire planning was 'a part of life', while some young people in urban regions surrounded by bush felt government and firefighting agencies provided insufficient support for bushfire planning. Relatedly, they reflected on differences in bushfires themselves depending on location. It’s something that’s quite jarring when moving from the coast where bushfires are a bit more dramatic. It’s like, this is not just grassfires. These are trees that are like 100 years old and these are going to fall on crap, and like, damage. And here [urban area] they’re like ‘oh yeah, these are just grass fires. You just walk into them.’ And I was like, ‘what do you mean you can just walk into them?’ You could not do that coastally. Like, the bushfires are so hot they melted cars. Emotional experience While the experience of bushfire was described as almost universally negative, this group of young people’s emotional experiences spanned relatively mild (expressed in terms such as “weird”, “crazy”, “absurd”) to extremely negative (“scary”, “traumatic”). Recurring themes were uncertainty, fear, a sense of helplessness (see Agency/Autonomy ) and grief (see Solastalgia ). Uncertainty around the duration and fear of the scale of the bushfires was often linked with subversion of expectations and prior experience of bushfire. Previously, fire was a thing to be managed, not a thing to be feared While some of the young people mentioned exacerbation of existing mental health conditions and a need for increased support following bushfire, none of the young people expressed the onset of new specific challenges, or new diagnoses arising from their experience of bushfire. Agency/Autonomy Those young people indirectly impacted by bushfire or worried about family and friends explicitly framed their experiences around the family unit. Some chose to assume a low level of agency. If something really important were to happen, I assumed my parents would have told me. Across all proximities to bushfire, others found active roles within the constraints of their relative lack of authority within the family unit, such as information seeker and conduit. The young people generally are the news bearers to the family. […] Like I actually do say a lot of the news, whether it’s through YouTube or friends or anything else. Those living independently expressed substantially more agentic thinking. Basically, um, my plan was to pack up the car with things that were important to me. And then it was to take my L plates off and then it was to look up the fire map and see where the fire wasn’t. Being proactive was experienced as positive and self-affirming, but when the proactive desire to assist was constrained, this heightened frustration. I’m the kind of person that, if there is a problem and I can’t solve it personally… There wasn’t any way I could help with the RFS, so there wasn’t anything I could do. So, personally, it was so, existential. That there was absolutely nothing I could do to help myself. And I found that very distressing. Even if they were unable to undertake concrete actions, many young people exhibited a mature, empathetic attitude toward their wider communities and beyond. The majority of Australia did get hit by bushfires. So, I’m thinking about other people. So, some of the thinking is for me, and some of it is for other people. Solastalgia When young people reflected on the aftermath of bushfire, many reflected on a sense of grief and loss, and a lack of support or understanding of that mindset. For some, this was experienced immediately after the crisis when reflecting on the shock of property loss. Like, you were [I was] managing your own grief. And dealing with the weirdness of the situation. For others, the changes to their environment are an ongoing source of distress. One participant reflected on how, while they could see signs of recovery, the audible loss of life in a cherished place continues to be a source of distress. I feel this pretty intense loss of walking through what feels like a mostly dead landscape. It just doesn't sound the same […] The place still exists, but the life in the place is basically extinguished, and I hope will come back. While solastalgia is inherently focussed on loss, it was related to ongoing concern for the future. Several young people expressed anticipatory solastalgia. I think the enduring issue from the last fires is that is a sense of vulnerability that there is that when the next big bushfire happens, there is nothing more that we can do to prepare. We're not going to be any better off than we were last time. Discussion This study addressed the knowledge gap surrounding the lived experience and post-disaster recovery of young people following the 2019/2020 “Black Summer” bushfires through an open-enquiry inductive qualitative approach. A number of our findings in this sample of young people comport with those from the literature regarding adults. Their experience of the bushfire was framed in terms of prior cumulative experiences (e.g. as in Leviston et al., 2023 ), exposure to smoke was typically associated with staying indoors rather than evacuation (e.g. as in Heaney et al., 2021 ), and physical proximity to fire was associated with reactions and risk perception (e.g. as in Cooper et al., 2020 ). As elsewhere (e.g. Norris et al., 2002 ), direct experience of bushfire was associated with life threat, stress during the disaster, property damage, and relocation (e.g. as in Norris et al., 2002 ). Unlike studies in adults, we found that the mental health rather than physical health impacts of bushfire were more salient to young people. For example, frustration with the prolonged need to remain indoors outweighed discussion of the health impacts of smoke, similar to experiences of COVID-19 reported by 14 to 19 year-olds (Scott et al., 2021 ). We found relatively little discussion of coping mechanisms either during a crisis event, or in post-bushfire recovery. In those with exposure to smoke only, the reliance on computer games and other forms of indoor distraction could be akin to avoidant coping as discussed in Mellish et al. ( 2024 ). The urban/rural divide was salient: those residing in urban areas were affected indirectly, facing issues like smoke exposure and air pollution, whole those in rural areas faced direct threats including loss of life and property. This disparity is consistent with findings that rural communities bear the brunt of bushfire impacts due to their proximity to fire-prone landscapes and limited access to communication and emergency services (Beringer, 2000 ). While unavailability of actionable real time information was a common concern, failure of communication systems in rural areas was a particularly notable stressor, aligning with the findings that effective communication during disasters is critical mitigating stress and building resilience (Glik, 2007 ). Related to this, young people adroitly reflected on the differences in bushfire planning and preparedness, reflecting findings elsewhere that rural areas tend to have fewer resources but more mature governance and communication procedures surrounding bushfire than urban regions (Burrows, 2018 ). As in Slowikowski and Motion's (2021) exploration of memories of bushfire discourse among adults, the young people provided rich and vivid recollections of their embodied experiences, recalled through multiple sensory processes such as smelling the smoke, seeing the colour of the sky, feeling the heat, and hearing discussion among family and community. Throughout discussion they took agency by asking each other questions and proactively engaging in mutual sensemaking, demonstrating a mature understanding of the shared and distinct aspects of their experiences. This process is akin to social memory and learning, an important component of establishing a proactive community sense of shared responsibility for bushfire mitigation, preparation, and planning (Reid et al., 2018 ). It also reflects the embeddedness of their experience in social context. Our findings suggest that young people have a complex understanding of their place within community, friendships, and family regarding bushfire. Counter to the stereotype of adolescents as self-centred, young people in our study demonstrated a heightened sense of empathy and concern for those who were directly affected by fires. Their concern for the impact of bushfire on strangers parallel findings elsewhere that young people tend to view the impacts of climate change from a more existential whole-of-humanity perspective (Treble et al., 2023 ). Concern for people they know aligns with findings in adults that knowing someone directly affected by the disaster can lead to emotional responses including empathy and concern (North & Pfefferbaum, 2013 ). The marked increase in valuing peer connections during adolescence (Scholte & Van Aken, 2020 ) may underlie worry for friends. Interestingly, we found young people often framed themselves as part of family unit, particularly at moments of acute bushfire emergency. This framing had similar complexity as noted in Norris et al. ( 2002 ); the “we” of family can serve as a source of support and strength, but also of loneliness and alienation when the young person’s perspective, autonomy, or need for support outside of the family unit is not recognised. There is growing recognition that this extensive empathy and social embeddedness is important for the mental health of young people living in rural areas (e.g. Klinner et al., 2023 ). Our findings suggest that this should also be integrated into mental health approaches to the impacts of bushfire for young people in urban areas. Although the specific term was never raised in discussion, young participant reflections evidenced a clear sense of solastalgia; they shared their struggle to navigate the sadness of disorientation and changed landscape, and for some the changes to the environment that have persisted over the past four years were a source of ongoing anguish. This extends findings elsewhere that solastalgia associated with bushfire is experienced by adults (Eisenman et al., 2015 ). There were three notable aspects of their experience of solastalgia: it was present even among those who had experienced smoke but no lasting change to their immediate environment, it was present despite the young age of the sample, and it was linked with ongoing concern for the future. Solastalgia is often associated with an attachment to a common and beloved place. As the definition of ‘place’ evolves, it can extend beyond a geographical construct to include socio-cultural dimensions such as community, homeland, or planet (Galway et al., 2019 ). Consequently, the experience of environmental change in a 'place' and the resulting solastalgia can be shared not only among those directly impacted but also among those indirectly affected or even distant from the immediate impact. Relatedly, although it is expected that solastalgia would be more prevalent in older individuals who have more time to develop a connection with place and experience incremental change over time (Phillips & Murphy, 2021 ), our findings suggest solastalgia can be experienced even with relatively shorter temporal connection. Stanley et al. ( 2024 ) qualitatively explored solastalgia with bushfire-affected adults aged 18 to 86, and proposed that while present across all ages, older individuals may be more susceptible as they worry their ‘place’ will not recover within their lifetime. Our findings suggest a similarly aged-bound phenomenon: participants felt a lack of agency and thus a sense of helplessness to meaningfully address the changes bushfire had made to their ‘place’. Part of this is likely due to existential worry associated with climate despair; young people are more vulnerable to the mental health impacts of climate change, with many feeling hopeless as they perceive prior generation’s failures to act have led to irreversible change (Frumkin et al., 2022 ). Another part is that young people’s longer prospective lifespan renders them more likely to experience anticipatory solastalgia; distress regarding anticipated negative future changes to the environment (Stanley, 2023 ). This may effectively constitute a triple threat to young people impacted by bushfire: generalized vulnerability to mental distress, nostalgia-adjacent solastalgia, and anticipatory solastalgia. Future research is needed to explore the possible co-occurrence and age-group specific impact of these vulnerabilities in young people. Distress from solastalgia (nostalgic-adjacent or anticipatory) in young people was likely compounded by a sense of frustration and loneliness from the lack of attention or acknowledgement of their distress and solastalgia by family, or the wider community. This aligns with Forbes et al. ( 2012 ), whose qualitative work with people aged 19 to 27 years following bushfire in a rural area in Australia highlighted the importance of validation of autonomy and acknowledgment of experience, which was not always received. This may be related to the broader phenomenon that adults can have an oblivious or dismissive attitude toward young people’s climate change anxiety (Brophy et al., 2023 ). Our findings highlight that post-bushfire recovery in young people requires physical and metaphorical space for connection. It would be fruitful in both rural and urban communities to make further efforts to acknowledge young people’s experience, value the distinctiveness of their embeddedness in family and social groups, and provide opportunities for tangible connection with their local community while including them in broader conversations and activities surrounding bushfire planning, management, and recovery. This study has a number of strengths and weaknesses. To our knowledge, this is the first study to identify solastalgia in this age group. Much of the literature regarding the impacts of bushfire in Australia focus on the state of Victoria (e.g. Burns et al., 2010 ; Cooper et al., 2020 ; MacDonald et al., 2023 ), so our focus on the ACT and surrounding region is a valuable contribution to understanding of bushfire in Australia. While the sample size was appropriate for this qualitative work, it limits our ability to comment on intersectional vulnerability. Our findings are based on insights from young people living in urban and rural areas, and some who had lived in both. However, to minimise intrusiveness of demographic questions (motivated by the fact that some of our sample were minors), we are unsure how well our sample covers populations known to be disproportionately impacted by bushfire, such as individuals from low socio-economic backgrounds, from culturally and linguistically diverse households, and with pre-existing health conditions (Akter & Grafton, 2021 ; Rodney Harris et al., 2021 ; Walsh et al., 2022 ). Given the lack of available data, and that our current results suggest a number young people aged 15 to 19 experience bushfire in a way that is distinct from their older peers, there is a clear need for ongoing research in this age group. Declarations Funding: This work was supported by the Peter Brabazon Brooke Bushfire Research Fund, managed by the Australian National University. Conflict of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Compliance with Ethical Standards: The ethical aspects of this study were approved by the ANU Human Research Ethics Committee (protocol 2023/1376). All participants provided written informed consent. Author Contribution Walsh: conceptualisation, methodology, data collection, data analysis, visualisation, lead manuscript drafting, final approval of manuscript to be published.Leviston: conceptualisation, manuscript drafting, final approval of manuscript to be published.Huang: conceptualisation, manuscript drafting, final approval of manuscript to be published.Barry: conceptualisation, manuscript drafting, final approval of manuscript to be published.Tsheten: conceptualisation, manuscript drafting, final approval of manuscript to be published. Acknowledgement We would like to thank Garry Brooke for his generous philanthropic support of bushfire research. We would also like to thank Joel Artup and the Youth Coalition of the ACT. This work would not be possible without their ability to connect young people with researchers, and their ability to support participant wellbeing when discussing difficult topics. Additional thanks to Dr. Louise Stone for being on hand for supporting participants if needed. Finally, thank you to all of the young people who were willing to share their experiences and insights with us. Data Availability The data generated through this research will not be publicly available, in accordance with confidentiality protocols and ethical obligations concerning sensitive disclosures from participants under the age of 18. References Akter, S., & Grafton, R. Q. (2021). Do fires discriminate? Socio-economic disadvantage, wildfire hazard exposure and the Australian 2019–20 ‘Black Summer’fires. Climatic Change , 165 (3), 53. Albrecht, G. (2006). Solastalgia. Alternatives Journal , 32 (4/5), 34-36. 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Office of the Inspector-General Emergency Management. https://www.igem.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-12/IGEM%20QBR%20BNHCRC%20-%20lessons%20and%20insights.pdf Chester, L. (2020). The 2019–2020 Australian bushfires: a potent mix of climate change, problematisation, indigenous disregard, a fractured federation, volunteerism, social media, and more. Review of Evolutionary Political Economy , 1 (2), 245-264. Cooper, V., Fairbrother, P., Elliott, G., Walker, M., & Ch'ng, H.-Y. (2020). Shared responsibility and community engagement: Community narratives of bushfire risk information in Victoria, Australia. Journal of Rural Studies , 80 , 259-272. Eisenman, D., McCaffrey, S., Donatello, I., & Marshal, G. (2015). An ecosystems and vulnerable populations perspective on solastalgia and psychological distress after a wildfire. EcoHealth , 12 , 602-610. Elo, S., & Kyngäs, H. (2008). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of advanced nursing , 62 (1), 107-115. Eshel, Y. (2016). Postfire recovery to distress symptoms ratio as a measure of resilience of adolescents exposed to fire hazards. Journal of Community Psychology , 44 (3), 327-333. Filkov, A. I., Ngo, T., Matthews, S., Telfer, S., & Penman, T. D. (2020). Impact of Australia's catastrophic 2019/20 bushfire season on communities and environment. Retrospective analysis and current trends. Journal of Safety Science and Resilience , 1 (1), 44-56. Forbes, R. J., Jones, R., & Reupert, A. (2012). In the wake of the 2009 Gippsland fires: Young adults' perceptions of post‐disaster social supports. Australian journal of rural health , 20 (3), 119-125. Frumkin, H., Cook, S., Dobson, J., & Abbasi, K. (2022). Mobilising hope to overcome climate despair. In (Vol. 379): British Medical Journal Publishing Group. Galway, L. P., Beery, T., Jones-Casey, K., & Tasala, K. (2019). Mapping the solastalgia literature: A scoping review study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 16 (15), 2662. Glik, D. C. (2007). Risk communication for public health emergencies. Annual review of public health , 28 (1), 33-54. Hall, C., & Ryan, D. (2021). "Speaking up" Young people's experiences of Bushfire and Recovery: A partnership between YACVic, DET, and BRV . Hazen, E., Schlozman, S., & Beresin, E. (2008). Adolescent psychological development: a review. Pediatrics in review , 29 (5), 161-168. Heaney, E., Hunter, L., Clulow, A., Bowles, D., & Vardoulakis, S. (2021). Efficacy of communication techniques and health outcomes of bushfire smoke exposure: a scoping review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 18 (20), 10889. Hughes, L., Steffen, W., Mullins, G., Dean, A., Weisbrot, E., & Rice, M. (2020). Summer of Crisis. In. Kapur, S. (2015). Adolescence: the stage of transition. Horizons of holistic education , 2 (3), 233-250. Khaykin, S., Legras, B., Bucci, S., Sellitto, P., Isaksen, L., Tencé, F., Bekki, S., Bourassa, A., Rieger, L., & Zawada, D. (2020). The 2019/20 Australian wildfires generated a persistent smoke-charged vortex rising up to 35 km altitude. Communications Earth & Environment , 1 (1), 1-12. Klinner, C., Glozier, N., Yeung, M., Conn, K., & Milton, A. (2023). A qualitative exploration of young people’s mental health needs in rural and regional Australia: engagement, empowerment and integration. BMC psychiatry , 23 (1), 745. Koopman, C., Classen, C., & Spiegel, D. A. (1994). Predictors of posttraumatic stress symptoms among survivors of the Oakland/Berkeley, Calif., firestorm. The American Journal of Psychiatry . Leviston, Z., Stanley, S. K., Rodney, R. M., Walker, I., Reynolds, J., Christensen, B. K., Monaghan, C., Calear, A. L., Lal, A., & Lane, J. (2023). Solastalgia mediates between bushfire impact and mental health outcomes: A study of Australia's 2019–2020 bushfire season. Journal of Environmental Psychology , 90 , 102071. Looi, J. C., Allison, S., Bastiampillai, T., & Maguire, P. (2020). Fire, disease and fear: Effects of the media coverage of 2019–2020 Australian bushfires and novel coronavirus 2019 on population mental health. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry , 54 (9), 938-939. MacDonald, F., Lanyon, C., Munnery, L., Ryan, D., Ellis, K., & Champion, S. (2023). Agents of change in bushfire recovery: Young people's acts of citizenship in a youth-focused, animal-welfare and environmental program. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction , 87 , 103551. Marshall, G. N., Schell, T. L., Elliott, M. N., Rayburn, N. R., & Jaycox, L. H. (2007). Psychiatric disorders among adults seeking emergency disaster assistance after a wildland-urban interface fire. Psychiatric services , 58 (4), 509-514. Mellish, S., Ryan, J. C., & Litchfield, C. A. (2024). Short-term psychological outcomes of Australia’s 2019/20 bushfire season. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy , 16 (2), 292. Mirabelli, M. C., Künzli, N., Avol, E., Gilliland, F. D., Gauderman, W. J., McConnell, R., & Peters, J. M. (2009). Respiratory symptoms following wildfire smoke exposure: airway size as a susceptibility factor. Epidemiology , 20 (3), 451-459. Norris, F. H., Friedman, M. J., Watson, P. J., Byrne, C. M., Diaz, E., & Kaniasty, K. (2002). 60,000 disaster victims speak: Part I. An empirical review of the empirical literature, 1981—2001. Psychiatry , 65 (3), 207-239. North, C. S., & Pfefferbaum, B. (2013). Mental health response to community disasters: a systematic review. Jama , 310 (5), 507-518. Phillips, C., & Murphy, C. (2021). Solastalgia, place attachment and disruption: Insights from a coastal community on the front line. Regional Environmental Change , 21 (2), 46. Raising Children Network. (2022). Legal age: teenagers and the law . Retrieved 31/10/2024 from https://raisingchildren.net.au/teens/behaviour/behaviour-questions-issues/legal-age-teenagers-and-the-law Reid, K., Beilin, R., & McLennan, J. (2018). Shaping and sharing responsibility: Social memory and social learning in the Australian rural bushfire landscape. Society & Natural Resources , 31 (4), 442-456. Reijneveld, S. A., Crone, M. R., Verhulst, F. C., & Verloove-Vanhorick, S. P. (2003). The effect of a severe disaster on the mental health of adolescents: a controlled study. The Lancet , 362 (9385), 691-696. Rodney Harris, R., Swaminathan, A., Calear, A., Christensen, B., Lal, A., Lane, J., Leviston, Z., Reynolds, J., Trevenar, S., & Vardoulakis, S. (2021). Physical and Mental Health Effects of Bushfire and Smoke in the Australian Capital Territory 2019-2020. Russell, R., Guerry, A. D., Balvanera, P., Gould, R. K., Basurto, X., Chan, K. M., Klain, S., Levine, J., & Tam, J. (2013). Humans and nature: How knowing and experiencing nature affect well-being. Annual review of environment and resources , 38 (1), 473-502. Sawyer, S. M., Azzopardi, P. S., Wickremarathne, D., & Patton, G. C. (2018). The age of adolescence. The lancet child & adolescent health , 2 (3), 223-228. Scholte, R. H., & Van Aken, M. A. (2020). Peer relations in adolescence. In Handbook of adolescent development (pp. 175-199). Psychology Press. Scott, S. R., Rivera, K. M., Rushing, E., Manczak, E. M., Rozek, C. S., & Doom, J. R. (2021). “I hate this”: A qualitative analysis of adolescents' self-reported challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of adolescent health , 68 (2), 262-269. Slowikowski, S., & Motion, J. (2021). Unlocking meaning of embodied memories from bushfire survivors. The Oral History Review , 48 (1), 83-99. Stanley, S. K. (2023). Anticipatory solastalgia in the Anthropocene: Climate change as a source of future-oriented distress about environmental change. Journal of Environmental Psychology , 91 , 102134. Stanley, S. K., Heffernan, T., Macleod, E., Lane, J., Walker, I., Evans, O., Greenwood, L.-M., Kurz, T., Calear, A. L., & Reynolds, J. (2024). Solastalgia following the Australian summer of bushfires: Qualitative and quantitative insights about environmental distress and recovery. Journal of Environmental Psychology , 95 , 102273. Treble, M., Cosma, A., & Martin, G. (2023). Child and adolescent psychological reactions to climate change: A narrative review through an existential lens. Current Psychiatry Reports , 25 (8), 357-363. UN. (2020). Australia suffers devastating fires after hottest, driest year on record . United Natio Retrieved from https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/australia-suffers-devastating-fires-after-hottest-driest-year-record Walsh, E. I., Sargent, G., Cevik-Compiegne, B., Roberts, M., Palfrey, N., Gooyers-Bourke, L., Vardoulakis, S., & Laachir, K. (2022). Bushfire smoke and children’s health—exploring a communication gap. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 19 (19), 12436. Williamson, R., Banwell, C., Calear, A. L., LaBond, C., Leach, L. S., Olsen, A., Phillips, C., Walsh, E. I., & Zulfiqar, T. (2023). ‘I didn’t feel safe inside’: navigating public health advice, housing and living with bushfire smoke. Critical public health , 33 (2), 230-240. Witt, A., Sachser, C., & Fegert, J. M. (2024). Scoping review on trauma and recovery in youth after natural disasters: what Europe can learn from natural disasters around the world. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry , 33 (3), 651-665. Woodman, D., Maire, Q., & Cook, J. (2024). Who is receiving financial transfers from family during young adulthood in Australia? Journal of sociology , 60 (2), 399-418. WWF. (2020). Impacts of the unprecidented 2019-20 Bushfires on Australian Animals . Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. 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An estimated eighty percent of the population of Australia were affected in some way (Hughes et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). One hundred and eighty six thousand square kilometres of land, including forests and other vegetation burned (Filkov et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e), and almost three million Australian adults were directly exposed to bushfires through property loss, property damage, or needing to evacuate (Biddle et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). Direct exposure to bushfire has been associated with elevated rates of psychological distress and morbidity including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (Bryant et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e; Koopman et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1994\u003c/span\u003e; Marshall et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2007\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIndirect exposure to bushfire is also a concern for physical and mental health. An estimated 10.4\u0026nbsp;million people were anxious or worried about the safety of family or friends due to the \u0026ldquo;Black summer\u0026rdquo; bushfires (Biddle et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). The bushfires produced a smoke plume that covered much of the country that persisted for over thirteen weeks (Khaykin et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; UN, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR51\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e), impacting an estimated 11.3\u0026nbsp;million eleven million three hundred thousand adults (Biddle et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). This smoke exposure resulted in an estimated four hundred deaths, almost four and a half thousand hospitalisations, psychological distress, and a general heightened sense of vulnerability in the home and other places previously considered safe (Borchers Arriagada et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Williamson et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR54\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). The outcomes of both direct and indirect effects of bushfire are not evenly distributed across communities, but are concentrated among those experiencing recent life stressors (Bryant et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e) and subpopulations including women, parents, and those with pre-existing medical conditions (Rodney Harris et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). This demonstrates the importance of understanding the experiences of different subgroups that may be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of bushfire, and how they respond to and navigate environmental loss accompanying severe bushfire event.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA sense of connection to environment is part of human wellbeing (Russell et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e). Solastalgia is existential distress associated with changes to the environment, which are perceived as changes for the worse (Albrecht, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e). Originally developed to characterize experiences of drought and the environmental consequences of open-cut coal mining in Australia (Albrecht et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2007\u003c/span\u003e), it can be distinguished from forward-focussed worry about the safety of the environment (often termed \u0026lsquo;climate anxiety\u0026rsquo; or \u0026lsquo;eco-anxiety\u0026rsquo;) by a nostalgia-adjacent focus on the comparison of the past state of the environment with its current state. Solastalgia is not a mental illness, but rather, a component of a normative range of reactions to negatively perceived environmental changes. The \u0026ldquo;Black Summer\u0026rdquo; bushfires caused substantial ecological loss. Alongside damage to vegetation, it is estimated that over three billion native reptiles, mammals, birds and frogs were in the path of the fire, at least a third of which died (WWF, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR57\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). Leviston et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) investigated solastalgia associated with the \u0026ldquo;Black Summer\u0026rdquo; bushfires in adult residents from the Australian Capital Territory and surrounding regions immediately after the bushfire, and with a nationally representative sample of Australians half a year after bushfire. They found solastalgia was present among those impacted by bushfire even six months after the crisis, and that it had a small but consistent association with anxiety and distress. Given the nostalgia-adjacent nature of solastalgia, it is unclear if this may also be the case for young people, particularly given their under-representation in the broader solastalgia literature, as identified in Galway et al.'s (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e) scoping review.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe concept of what is variously termed adolescence, youth, and young adulthood refers to a liminal developmental stage that can be characterised by physical, psychological, and social development in which a person is re-framed from dependent child to agentic adult (Forbes et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e; Hazen et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e; Kapur, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e). The specific timing of this transition varies across time and cultures, with the onset defined as early as 10 years, and transition to adulthood as old as 20 years, and with substantial overlap with related concepts of childhood and emerging adulthood (Sawyer et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). In the Australian Capital Territory, a fifteen-year-old is held criminally responsible, can drive, and can undertake part-time work, but they are not permitted to leave school, drink alcohol, or leave the care (and consequently authority) of their parents or guardians (Raising Children Network, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). While legally an adult, it is increasingly common for people aged eighteen to still be living with or otherwise financially dependent on their parents as they undertake further education (Woodman et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR56\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). The unifying characteristic of interest to the current study is this tension between capacity, agency, and autonomy, thus we focus on ages 15 to 19 and refer to people within or near that age range as \u0026ldquo;young people\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is a notable lack of evidence regarding the impact of bushfire on the specific age range of interest (Walsh \u0026amp; Tsheten, under review), but evidence pertaining to similar age groups in the context of other natural disasters suggests young people tend to be more affected than adults (Beames et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e), and that they experience natural disasters and post-disaster recovery differently from children and adults (Forbes et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e; Hall \u0026amp; Ryan, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). In their systematic review of post-disaster recovery in adults and youth (defined as age 6 through 18), Norris et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2002\u003c/span\u003e), found both young people and adults were likely to have marked increases in post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, non-specific distress and health problems. Perhaps reflecting developing independence, they found children post-natural disaster tended to be more dependent and \u0026lsquo;clingier\u0026rsquo; with parents and caregivers, while adolescents engaged in more disruptive behaviours (though this was not necessarily reflected in school records). There is a sizable literature surrounding the detrimental impact of negative post-disaster coping in adolescents (Witt et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR55\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e), wherein coping mechanisms less available to children, such as substance use, has received particular attention (e.g. Reijneveld et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2003\u003c/span\u003e). In a qualitative study following post-disaster recovery from bushfires in young adults (designed as age 18 through 27), predominant themes were the importance of friends, the complex situation of family both as source of support and stress, and autonomy (Forbes et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe aim of the current study was to address the knowledge gap surrounding the lived experience and post-disaster recovery of young people following the 2019/2020 \u0026ldquo;Black Summer\u0026rdquo; bushfires. Our systematic review of literature (Walsh \u0026amp; Tsheten, under review) revealed the sparse research focusing on this age range tended to be quantitative explorations of physical e.g. Mirabelli et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e) and mental (e.g. Eshel, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e) health outcomes selected a-priori. Although we anticipated themes of agency, autonomy and solastalgia to emerge, this did not frame our questioning or analysis. As Hall and Ryan (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e) note, young people are experts in their own lives. To privilege young people\u0026rsquo;s viewpoint, we took an open-enquiry inductive qualitative approach to understand their experience as they chose to explain it.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Methods","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eParticipants\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Youth Coalition of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) identified N\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;12 young people currently living in the ACT or surrounding region, either aged 15 to 19 years old, or within this age range during the 2019\u0026ndash;2020 \u0026ldquo;Black Summer\u0026rdquo; bushfires. The final sample was aged between 16 and 23 years (median 19 years), corresponding to ages 11 through 19 during the \u0026ldquo;Black Summer\u0026rdquo; bushfires. Six identified as female, three as male, two as non-binary, and one chose not to share their gender identity. All participants completed the full interview or focus group session and reported no undue distress at follow-up.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eMaterials\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe semi-structured protocol focussed on this question: \u0026ldquo;What is your experience of bushfires?\u0026rdquo;. Each discussion (either interview or focus group) had at least one researcher and one staff member from the Youth Coalition of the ACT present. In focus groups, participants took turns sharing their experiences, and were provided space to organically discuss each other\u0026rsquo;s responses. When conversation faltered (in focus groups) or when the young person had finished their answer (in interviews) the researcher or Youth Coalition staff member asked follow-up queries based on the young people\u0026rsquo;s prior answers, of the form \u0026ldquo;You mentioned you needed to [action]. Could you tell us more about that?\u0026rdquo;, or \u0026ldquo;When [reported thing happened], how were you feeling?\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProcedure\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe ethical aspects of this study were approved by the ANU Human Research Ethics Committee (protocol 2023/1376). Young people were provided the choice of participation via in-person focus group, or interview. One young person opted for an interview, one attended both a focus group and an interview, three attended both focus groups, and the remaining attended a single focus group. Focus groups were held in the Youth Coalition of the ACT headquarters, commencing at 5:30pm and running for two hours with a meal provided. Interviews were conducted online via Zoom. Following an a-prior distress management protocol, at least one member of the Youth Coalition of the ACT was present to monitor young person wellbeing in all discussions. All researchers present had current Working with Vulnerable People clearance.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e A small monetary incentive for participation was provided to all participants prior to confirming consent, and it was made clear participants could withdraw at any time and retain that incentive. Following mutual agreement of code of conduct (in particular, inviting young people to indicate topics that should be avoided or approached with sensitivity), all participants provided informed consent, without the requirement of parent/caregiver consent for those aged under eighteen. Participants were provided the option to verbally discuss their experiences, and were provided with stationary to allow them to share writings or drawings if they chose.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFocus group discussions were audio recorded with physical devices; while online interviews were recorded using Open Broadcast Studio. The focus group recordings were manually transcribed by EW, whereas interview recordings were transcribed using Otter.ai and verified by a researcher (EW). Young people were given the opportunity to review and correct verified and de-identified transcripts. They were also contacted by the Youth Coalition of the ACT the day after the focus group or interview, to check that the discussion had not caused any lasting distress. Transcripts and any written or drawn content underwent inductive qualitative content analysis, per Elo and Kyng\u0026auml;s (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eData availability statement\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e The data generated through this research will not be publicly available, in accordance with confidentiality protocols and ethical obligations concerning sensitive disclosures from participants under the age of 18.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eBushfires are always a pretty present part of my life. 2019 was totally something else. I think in terms of the severity, and the huge element of risk, um, the amount of smoke, but also just how long it lasted. It lasted, like months!\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe conceptual map resulting from inductive qualitative content analysis can be seen in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eProximity to fire\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eYoung people\u0026rsquo;s proximity to the 2019\u0026ndash;2020 \u0026ldquo;Black Summer\u0026rdquo; bushfires spanned being in a different country at the onset of the bushfires, through being exposed to indirect effects such as smoke exposure and worry about family and friends, to direct property loss.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThose not in Australia as the bushfires began discussed the importance of clear and timely information regarding the status of their communities. They expressed frustration at being unable to consult satellite imagery to check if their home was safe because the smoke was \u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;covering the entire quarter of the earth\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmong those in Australia experiencing prolonged exposure to smoke, but who were not directly impacted by fires, the predominant theme was the sensory experience and confinement. Many referred to red or orange light outside, and the smell of the smoke. Interestingly, themes of anxiety or worry were largely absent, with more of a focus on frustration of being unable to go to school or socialise, and uncertainty surrounding how long it would take to return to normal life.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWell, yeah, when I first saw the smoke I was like, well it wasn\u0026rsquo;t good. But it wasn\u0026rsquo;t good, but I thought it would go away pretty quickly so I thought it wasn\u0026rsquo;t like a big issue. I was like, it\u0026rsquo;s fine. But then like, it got like weeks.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe inability to socialize was particularly disruptive for participants undergoing life transitions.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eI was just going to a new school, um, so nobody knew each other anyway. So, I kind of left all my old friends behind in this experience. And [I was] sort of were delayed in making friends.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOnly one young person mentioned a physical consequence of smoke.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;d go outside and my eyes would start going really watery and it would look like I was crying but I\u0026rsquo;m not crying, I\u0026rsquo;m dripping. It was really annoying.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnxiety and worry were markedly more present among those who were not personally directly impacted by bushfires, but whose family and friends were directly impacted. The young people exhibited empathy for the emotional state of their friends, but also a clear understanding of the relevant context (e.g. emergency response capacity, community resources). Family was a salient theme, with young people\u0026rsquo;s worry extending to their friends\u0026rsquo; family members.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eI remember being scared for him, \u0026lsquo;caus his grandparents on both sides live with him. [\u0026hellip;] So, like if something was to happen, they kind of didn\u0026rsquo;t \u0026ndash; they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have had enough time to do anything quick enough. So I was worried for that, but luckily nothing happened.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHer parents were like \u0026lsquo;We\u0026rsquo;re not letting our property burn!\u0026rsquo;. That\u0026rsquo;s a very scary situation to be in, when you\u0026rsquo;ve got like, family and may need to evacuate.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThose young people concerned for the safety of their own family members reflected on the importance of being able to communicate with them as circumstances evolved.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e[Mum] got trapped in [coastal place name]. And yeah, ended up spending most of that time in the evacuation centre or the beach, sending me photos of the sky being totally crimson.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThose who experience direct impacts of bushfire shared memories of rapidly changing conditions and uncertainty, as well as community resilience. Experiences were expressed almost narratively \u0026ndash; a chronologically coherent series of events beginning with imminent bushfire contact, including a mixture of sensory information (similar to those whose experience was limited to smoke). Events unfolded through phases of alert, watchful waiting, evacuation, waiting in alternative accommodation, and eventual return. Interestingly, when sharing these narratives, the young people often framed themselves and their response to the situation as part of a collective at either the family or local community level, with language shifting from \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rdquo; to \u0026ldquo;we\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;ours\u0026rdquo;.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn our street, only two houses survived. Ours was not one of them.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eUrban/rural distinction\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose young people living in urban environments were more likely to have been indirectly impacted by bushfire, while those living in rural areas were more likely to have been directly impacted. In focus groups, after sharing their respective experiences, a number of young people with urban experiences expressed curiosity about their peers with rural experiences. Urban young people tended to be surprised at the degree of ambiguity and confusion among rural people during moments of crisis.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e[participant A] it was like three days later we all got the text message saying \u0026ldquo;if you get this text message you need to evacuate\u0026rdquo; and we were like, \u0026ldquo;too late, thanks for letting us know\u0026rdquo;. It was quite \u0026ndash; at that point it just hit, the absurdity, and we were just like \u0026ldquo;ha ha\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e[participant B] wait, so you got a message to evacuate three days after you evacuated?\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e[participant A] Yeah, yeah.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e[participant B] but what would have happened if you didn't evacuate!?\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne of the interviewed young people had experience of bushfire in both a rural and urban setting. Synthesising across this interview and multiple discussions in focus groups relevant to the urban/rural divide, young people from a rural background had a more active approach to bushfire preparation and monitoring, which was supported by greater local community preparedness. In rural areas, bushfire planning was 'a part of life', while some young people in urban regions surrounded by bush felt government and firefighting agencies provided insufficient support for bushfire planning. Relatedly, they reflected on differences in bushfires themselves depending on location.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s something that\u0026rsquo;s quite jarring when moving from the coast where bushfires are a bit more dramatic. It\u0026rsquo;s like, this is not just grassfires. These are trees that are like 100 years old and these are going to fall on crap, and like, damage. And here [urban area] they\u0026rsquo;re like \u0026lsquo;oh yeah, these are just grass fires. You just walk into them.\u0026rsquo; And I was like, \u0026lsquo;what do you mean you can just walk into them?\u0026rsquo; You could not do that coastally. Like, the bushfires are so hot they melted cars.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eEmotional experience\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile the experience of bushfire was described as almost universally negative, this group of young people\u0026rsquo;s emotional experiences spanned relatively mild (expressed in terms such as \u0026ldquo;weird\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;crazy\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;absurd\u0026rdquo;) to extremely negative (\u0026ldquo;scary\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;traumatic\u0026rdquo;). Recurring themes were uncertainty, fear, a sense of helplessness (see \u003cem\u003eAgency/Autonomy\u003c/em\u003e) and grief (see \u003cem\u003eSolastalgia\u003c/em\u003e). Uncertainty around the duration and fear of the scale of the bushfires was often linked with subversion of expectations and prior experience of bushfire.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePreviously, fire was a thing to be managed, not a thing to be feared\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile some of the young people mentioned exacerbation of existing mental health conditions and a need for increased support following bushfire, none of the young people expressed the onset of new specific challenges, or new diagnoses arising from their experience of bushfire.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAgency/Autonomy\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThose young people indirectly impacted by bushfire or worried about family and friends explicitly framed their experiences around the family unit. Some chose to assume a low level of agency.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf something really important were to happen, I assumed my parents would have told me.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcross all proximities to bushfire, others found active roles within the constraints of their relative lack of authority within the family unit, such as information seeker and conduit.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe young people generally are the news bearers to the family. [\u0026hellip;] Like I actually do say a lot of the news, whether it\u0026rsquo;s through YouTube or friends or anything else.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThose living independently expressed substantially more agentic thinking.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eBasically, um, my plan was to pack up the car with things that were important to me. And then it was to take my L plates off and then it was to look up the fire map and see where the fire wasn\u0026rsquo;t.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBeing proactive was experienced as positive and self-affirming, but when the proactive desire to assist was constrained, this heightened frustration.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m the kind of person that, if there is a problem and I can\u0026rsquo;t solve it personally\u0026hellip; There wasn\u0026rsquo;t any way I could help with the RFS, so there wasn\u0026rsquo;t anything I could do. So, personally, it was so, existential. That there was absolutely nothing I could do to help myself. And I found that very distressing.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEven if they were unable to undertake concrete actions, many young people exhibited a mature, empathetic attitude toward their wider communities and beyond.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe majority of Australia did get hit by bushfires. So, I\u0026rsquo;m thinking about other people. So, some of the thinking is for me, and some of it is for other people.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eSolastalgia\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen young people reflected on the aftermath of bushfire, many reflected on a sense of grief and loss, and a lack of support or understanding of that mindset. For some, this was experienced immediately after the crisis when reflecting on the shock of property loss.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike, you were [I was] managing your own grief. And dealing with the weirdness of the situation.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor others, the changes to their environment are an ongoing source of distress. One participant reflected on how, while they could see signs of recovery, the audible loss of life in a cherished place continues to be a source of distress.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eI feel this pretty intense loss of walking through what feels like a mostly dead landscape. It just doesn't sound the same [\u0026hellip;] The place still exists, but the life in the place is basically extinguished, and I hope will come back.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile solastalgia is inherently focussed on loss, it was related to ongoing concern for the future. Several young people expressed anticipatory solastalgia.\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eI think the enduring issue from the last fires is that is a sense of vulnerability that there is that when the next big bushfire happens, there is nothing more that we can do to prepare. We're not going to be any better off than we were last time.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis study addressed the knowledge gap surrounding the lived experience and post-disaster recovery of young people following the 2019/2020 \u0026ldquo;Black Summer\u0026rdquo; bushfires through an open-enquiry inductive qualitative approach. A number of our findings in this sample of young people comport with those from the literature regarding adults. Their experience of the bushfire was framed in terms of prior cumulative experiences (e.g. as in Leviston et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e), exposure to smoke was typically associated with staying indoors rather than evacuation (e.g. as in Heaney et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e), and physical proximity to fire was associated with reactions and risk perception (e.g. as in Cooper et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). As elsewhere (e.g. Norris et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2002\u003c/span\u003e), direct experience of bushfire was associated with life threat, stress during the disaster, property damage, and relocation (e.g. as in Norris et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2002\u003c/span\u003e). Unlike studies in adults, we found that the mental health rather than physical health impacts of bushfire were more salient to young people. For example, frustration with the prolonged need to remain indoors outweighed discussion of the health impacts of smoke, similar to experiences of COVID-19 reported by 14 to 19 year-olds (Scott et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). We found relatively little discussion of coping mechanisms either during a crisis event, or in post-bushfire recovery. In those with exposure to smoke only, the reliance on computer games and other forms of indoor distraction could be akin to avoidant coping as discussed in Mellish et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe urban/rural divide was salient: those residing in urban areas were affected indirectly, facing issues like smoke exposure and air pollution, whole those in rural areas faced direct threats including loss of life and property. This disparity is consistent with findings that rural communities bear the brunt of bushfire impacts due to their proximity to fire-prone landscapes and limited access to communication and emergency services (Beringer, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2000\u003c/span\u003e). While unavailability of actionable real time information was a common concern, failure of communication systems in rural areas was a particularly notable stressor, aligning with the findings that effective communication during disasters is critical mitigating stress and building resilience (Glik, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2007\u003c/span\u003e). Related to this, young people adroitly reflected on the differences in bushfire planning and preparedness, reflecting findings elsewhere that rural areas tend to have fewer resources but more mature governance and communication procedures surrounding bushfire than urban regions (Burrows, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs in Slowikowski and Motion's (2021) exploration of memories of bushfire discourse among adults, the young people provided rich and vivid recollections of their embodied experiences, recalled through multiple sensory processes such as smelling the smoke, seeing the colour of the sky, feeling the heat, and hearing discussion among family and community. Throughout discussion they took agency by asking each other questions and proactively engaging in mutual sensemaking, demonstrating a mature understanding of the shared and distinct aspects of their experiences. This process is akin to social memory and learning, an important component of establishing a proactive community sense of shared responsibility for bushfire mitigation, preparation, and planning (Reid et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). It also reflects the embeddedness of their experience in social context.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur findings suggest that young people have a complex understanding of their place within community, friendships, and family regarding bushfire. Counter to the stereotype of adolescents as self-centred, young people in our study demonstrated a heightened sense of empathy and concern for those who were directly affected by fires. Their concern for the impact of bushfire on strangers parallel findings elsewhere that young people tend to view the impacts of climate change from a more existential whole-of-humanity perspective (Treble et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR50\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Concern for people they know aligns with findings in adults that knowing someone directly affected by the disaster can lead to emotional responses including empathy and concern (North \u0026amp; Pfefferbaum, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e). The marked increase in valuing peer connections during adolescence (Scholte \u0026amp; Van Aken, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e) may underlie worry for friends. Interestingly, we found young people often framed themselves as part of family unit, particularly at moments of acute bushfire emergency. This framing had similar complexity as noted in Norris et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2002\u003c/span\u003e); the \u0026ldquo;we\u0026rdquo; of family can serve as a source of support and strength, but also of loneliness and alienation when the young person\u0026rsquo;s perspective, autonomy, or need for support outside of the family unit is not recognised. There is growing recognition that this extensive empathy and social embeddedness is important for the mental health of young people living in rural areas (e.g. Klinner et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Our findings suggest that this should also be integrated into mental health approaches to the impacts of bushfire for young people in urban areas.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlthough the specific term was never raised in discussion, young participant reflections evidenced a clear sense of solastalgia; they shared their struggle to navigate the sadness of disorientation and changed landscape, and for some the changes to the environment that have persisted over the past four years were a source of ongoing anguish. This extends findings elsewhere that solastalgia associated with bushfire is experienced by adults (Eisenman et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e). There were three notable aspects of their experience of solastalgia: it was present even among those who had experienced smoke but no lasting change to their immediate environment, it was present despite the young age of the sample, and it was linked with ongoing concern for the future. Solastalgia is often associated with an attachment to a common and beloved place. As the definition of \u0026lsquo;place\u0026rsquo; evolves, it can extend beyond a geographical construct to include socio-cultural dimensions such as community, homeland, or planet (Galway et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). Consequently, the experience of environmental change in a 'place' and the resulting solastalgia can be shared not only among those directly impacted but also among those indirectly affected or even distant from the immediate impact.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRelatedly, although it is expected that solastalgia would be more prevalent in older individuals who have more time to develop a connection with place and experience incremental change over time (Phillips \u0026amp; Murphy, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR38\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e), our findings suggest solastalgia can be experienced even with relatively shorter temporal connection. Stanley et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR49\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e) qualitatively explored solastalgia with bushfire-affected adults aged 18 to 86, and proposed that while present across all ages, older individuals may be more susceptible as they worry their \u0026lsquo;place\u0026rsquo; will not recover within their lifetime. Our findings suggest a similarly aged-bound phenomenon: participants felt a lack of agency and thus a sense of helplessness to meaningfully address the changes bushfire had made to their \u0026lsquo;place\u0026rsquo;. Part of this is likely due to existential worry associated with climate despair; young people are more vulnerable to the mental health impacts of climate change, with many feeling hopeless as they perceive prior generation\u0026rsquo;s failures to act have led to irreversible change (Frumkin et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Another part is that young people\u0026rsquo;s longer prospective lifespan renders them more likely to experience anticipatory solastalgia; distress regarding anticipated negative future changes to the environment (Stanley, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR48\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). This may effectively constitute a triple threat to young people impacted by bushfire: generalized vulnerability to mental distress, nostalgia-adjacent solastalgia, and anticipatory solastalgia. Future research is needed to explore the possible co-occurrence and age-group specific impact of these vulnerabilities in young people.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDistress from solastalgia (nostalgic-adjacent or anticipatory) in young people was likely compounded by a sense of frustration and loneliness from the lack of attention or acknowledgement of their distress and solastalgia by family, or the wider community. This aligns with Forbes et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e), whose qualitative work with people aged 19 to 27 years following bushfire in a rural area in Australia highlighted the importance of validation of autonomy and acknowledgment of experience, which was not always received. This may be related to the broader phenomenon that adults can have an oblivious or dismissive attitude toward young people\u0026rsquo;s climate change anxiety (Brophy et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Our findings highlight that post-bushfire recovery in young people requires physical and metaphorical space for connection. It would be fruitful in both rural and urban communities to make further efforts to acknowledge young people\u0026rsquo;s experience, value the distinctiveness of their embeddedness in family and social groups, and provide opportunities for tangible connection with their local community while including them in broader conversations and activities surrounding bushfire planning, management, and recovery.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis study has a number of strengths and weaknesses. To our knowledge, this is the first study to identify solastalgia in this age group. Much of the literature regarding the impacts of bushfire in Australia focus on the state of Victoria (e.g. Burns et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e; Cooper et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; MacDonald et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e), so our focus on the ACT and surrounding region is a valuable contribution to understanding of bushfire in Australia. While the sample size was appropriate for this qualitative work, it limits our ability to comment on intersectional vulnerability. Our findings are based on insights from young people living in urban and rural areas, and some who had lived in both. However, to minimise intrusiveness of demographic questions (motivated by the fact that some of our sample were minors), we are unsure how well our sample covers populations known to be disproportionately impacted by bushfire, such as individuals from low socio-economic backgrounds, from culturally and linguistically diverse households, and with pre-existing health conditions (Akter \u0026amp; Grafton, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Rodney Harris et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Walsh et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR53\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Given the lack of available data, and that our current results suggest a number young people aged 15 to 19 experience bushfire in a way that is distinct from their older peers, there is a clear need for ongoing research in this age group.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFunding:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThis work was supported by the\u0026nbsp;Peter Brabazon Brooke Bushfire Research Fund, managed by the Australian National University.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConflict of interest:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThe authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCompliance with Ethical Standards:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThe ethical aspects of this study were approved by the ANU Human Research Ethics Committee (protocol 2023/1376). All participants provided written informed consent.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eWalsh: conceptualisation, methodology, data collection, data analysis, visualisation, lead manuscript drafting, final approval of manuscript to be published.Leviston: conceptualisation, manuscript drafting, final approval of manuscript to be published.Huang: conceptualisation, manuscript drafting, final approval of manuscript to be published.Barry: conceptualisation, manuscript drafting, final approval of manuscript to be published.Tsheten: conceptualisation, manuscript drafting, final approval of manuscript to be published.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAcknowledgement\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe would like to thank Garry Brooke for his generous philanthropic support of bushfire research. We would also like to thank Joel Artup and the Youth Coalition of the ACT. This work would not be possible without their ability to connect young people with researchers, and their ability to support participant wellbeing when discussing difficult topics. Additional thanks to Dr. Louise Stone for being on hand for supporting participants if needed. Finally, thank you to all of the young people who were willing to share their experiences and insights with us.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eData Availability\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe data generated through this research will not be publicly available, in accordance with confidentiality protocols and ethical obligations concerning sensitive disclosures from participants under the age of 18.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAkter, S., \u0026amp; Grafton, R. Q. (2021). Do fires discriminate? 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L., LaBond, C., Leach, L. S., Olsen, A., Phillips, C., Walsh, E. I., \u0026amp; Zulfiqar, T. (2023). \u0026lsquo;I didn\u0026rsquo;t feel safe inside\u0026rsquo;: navigating public health advice, housing and living with bushfire smoke. \u003cem\u003eCritical public health\u003c/em\u003e,\u003cem\u003e 33\u003c/em\u003e(2), 230-240. \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWitt, A., Sachser, C., \u0026amp; Fegert, J. M. (2024). Scoping review on trauma and recovery in youth after natural disasters: what Europe can learn from natural disasters around the world. \u003cem\u003eEuropean Child \u0026amp; Adolescent Psychiatry\u003c/em\u003e,\u003cem\u003e 33\u003c/em\u003e(3), 651-665. \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWoodman, D., Maire, Q., \u0026amp; Cook, J. (2024). Who is receiving financial transfers from family during young adulthood in Australia? \u003cem\u003eJournal of sociology\u003c/em\u003e,\u003cem\u003e 60\u003c/em\u003e(2), 399-418. \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWWF. (2020). \u003cem\u003eImpacts of the unprecidented 2019-20 Bushfires on Australian Animals\u003c/em\u003e. \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Bushfire, young people, agency, autonomy, solastalgia, ecological grief","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7953155/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7953155/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe 2019\u0026ndash;2020 \u0026ldquo;Black Summer\u0026rdquo; bushfires had substantial direct impacts on property and lives, and unprecedented indirect impacts across Australia on physical and mental health due to a smoke plume that covered much of the country and persisted for over thirteen weeks. It is well-recognised that children and adolescents are vulnerable to natural disasters, and that their experience during and after a crisis is distinct from those of adults. However, the voice of those at the liminal transition between adolescence and adulthood (aged fifteen to nineteen) is unheard in the current literature surrounding bushfire experience. Twelve young people currently living in the Australian Capital Territory participated in focus groups and/or interviews to discuss their lived experience of the \u0026ldquo;Black Summer\u0026rdquo; bushfire. These people were either aged 15\u0026ndash;19 years currently, or were within that age range when the fires occurred (16\u0026ndash;23 years, mean age 19, 50% female). We took an open-enquiry inductive qualitative approach to understand their experience as they chose to explain it. We found young people\u0026rsquo;s experience is more closely aligned to that of adults than children, but framed either explicitly or implicitly within the family unit. Results suggest that young people experience solastalgia following bushfire.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Where there’s smoke, there isn’t necessarily fire – young people’s diverse experiences of the 2019-2020 “Black Summer” bushfires in Australia","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-11-14 10:08:46","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7953155/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"ab9ef862-7279-43e9-97bc-fff6e9f56afe","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 14th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-09T16:39:15+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-11-14 10:08:46","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7953155","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7953155","identity":"rs-7953155","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}