Children’s and young people’s perspectives on disasters – mental health, agency and vulnerability: a scoping review

Disasters such as flooding, earthquakes and hurricanes can have devastating impacts on children and young people's lives, with evidence highlighting significant social and mental health consequences lasting many years. Yet other research highlights how children and young people actively contribute to disaster responses, supporting their families and communities to manage and overcome such impacts. Despite this evidence, very little research has been conducted directly with children and young people to explore their own perspectives on disasters, including the impacts on their social and emotional wellbeing, as well as their priorities for disaster planning programmes. This paper reports findings from a scoping review that examined the extant evidence base on research conducted directly with children investigating children and young people's (0–18 years) perspectives on disasters. The review identified thirty five relevant papers that were included for further analysis. Review findings highlighted children and young people's fears and anxieties related to their experience of a disaster, with many studies foregrounding negative outcomes and children's ‘vulnerability’. In contrast, a limited number of studies focused on children's knowledge, strengths and contributions to disaster responses. Our review highlights how such approaches underscore the importance of harnessing children and young people's perspectives within the development of disaster resilience programmes to support their socio-emotional and mental health.