Communication Characteristics of Climate Change Risk among the Digital Native Generation - Children and Adolescents in Chungcheongnam-do -

Background: Understanding the perceptions and communication styles of Generation Alpha and Generation Z, two groups widely known as "digital natives," is essential for effective climate change risk communication.Objectives: This study aimed to identify effective strategies for communicating climate change risks by examining environmental information acquisition channels, preferred information sources, intention to share information, and level of climate change awareness among elementary and middle school students in South Korea's Chungcheongnam-do Province, both near and away from coal-fired power plants.Methods: A structured questionnaire survey was administered and descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed.Results: Smartphones (20.4%) were the most common source of environmental information, and video-or image-based media content (27.5%) was the most preferred communication format.These results highlight the importance of promoting interactive, two-way communication through social media and of developing tailored strategies that reflect the differences in climate change awareness between elementary and middle school students.Conclusions: This study contributes to understanding the communication characteristics of digital native generations and provides practical directions for designing effective climate change communication strategies.Future studies should implement and evaluate these strategies in real-world educational and community settings including intervention-based evaluations in school curricula.