Climate anxiety, wellbeing and pro-environmental action: Correlates of negative emotional responses to climate change in 32 countries

Ogunbode, Charles; Doran, Rouven; Hanss, Daniel; Ojala, Maria; Salmela-Aro, Katariina; van den Broek, Karlijn L.; Bhullar, Navjot; Aquino, Sibele D.; Marot, Tiago; Schermer, Julie Aitken; Wlodarczyk, Anna; Lu, Su; Jiang, Feng; Maran, Daniela Acquadro; Yadav, Radha; Ardi, Rahkman; Chegeni, Razieh; Ghanbarian, Elahe; Zand, Somayeh; Najafi, Reza; Park, Joonha; Tsubakita, Takashi; Tan, Chee-Seng; Chukwuorji, JohnBosco Chika; Ojewumi, Kehinde; Tahir, Hajra; Albzour, Mai; Reyes, Marc Eric S.; Lins, Samuel; Enea, Violeta; Volkodav, Tatiana; Sollar, Tomas; Navarro-Carrillo, Ginés; Torres-Marín, Jorge; Mbungu, Winfred; Ayanian, Arin H.; Ghorayeb, Jihane; Onyutha, Charles; Lomas, Michael J.; Helmy, Mai; Martínez-Buelvas, Laura; Bayad, Aydin; Karasu, Mehmet

Abstract

This study explored the correlates of climate anxiety in a diverse range of national contexts. We analysed cross-sectional data gathered in 32 countries (N = 12,246). Our results show that climate anxiety is positively related to rate of exposure to information about climate change impacts, the amount of attention people pay to climate change information, and perceived descriptive norms about emotional responding to climate change. Climate anxiety was also positively linked to pro-environmental behaviours and inversely related to mental wellbeing. Notably, climate anxiety had a significant inverse association with mental wellbeing in 31 out of 32 countries, and with pro-environmental behaviour in 24 countries, it only predicted environmental activism in 12 countries. Our findings highlight contextual boundaries to engagement in environmental action as an antidote to climate anxiety, and the broad international significance of negative climate-related emotions as a plausible threat to wellbeing.

Citation

Ogunbode, C., Doran, R., Hanss, D., Ojala, M., Salmela-Aro, K., van den Broek, K. L., Bhullar, N., Aquino, S. D., Marot, T., Schermer, J. A., Wlodarczyk, A., Lu, S., Jiang, F., Maran, D. A., Yadav, R., Ardi, R., Chegeni, R., Ghanbarian, E., Zand, S., Najafi, R., …Karasu, M. (2022). Climate anxiety, wellbeing and pro-environmental action: Correlates of negative emotional responses to climate change in 32 countries. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 84, Article 101887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101887

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 1, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Oct 6, 2022
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Oct 13, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 13, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Environmental Psychology
• Print ISSN: 0272-4944
• Electronic ISSN: 1522-9610
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 84
• Article Number: 101887
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101887
• Keywords: Applied Psychology; Social Psychology
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/12326263
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494422001323?via%3Dihub