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Climate change anxiety and mental health: Environmental activism as buffer [1]

['Schwartz', 'Sarah E. O.', 'Seoschwartz Suffolk.Edu', 'Department Of Psychology', 'Suffolk University', 'Boston', 'Benoit', 'Child Study Center', 'Qualab', 'Yale School Of Medicine']

Date: 2023-08

Preliminary Analyses

Table 1 lists descriptive statistics for all variables in the analysis. Participants were 23.17 years old on average (SD = 3.87); the majority identified as women (78.9%) and White (66.2%). More than half (53.5%) were graduate students, and 68.0% were financial aid recipients. Based on participants’ scores on the PHQ-8 and GAD-7, 28.9% were classified as having probable MDD and 37.0% as having probable GAD. The CCA cognitive emotional impairment mean was 1.41 (SD = .54; range: 1.00–4.00), and the CCA functional impairment mean was 1.67 (SD = .57; range: 1.00–3.80), both representing average responses between “Never” and “Rarely.”

Table 1 Descriptive statistics for analytic sample Full size table

Table 2 shows a correlation matrix for all variables in the analysis. Of note, both CCA subscales were positively and significantly associated with MDD and GAD symptoms (both p < .001). Individual climate action was positively and significantly associated with the CCA functional impairment subscale (p < .01), but not the CCA cognitive emotional impairment subscale (p = .396). In contrast, climate activism was significantly and positively associated with both CCA subscales (both p’s < .001). Neither individual climate actions nor climate activism were significantly associated with MDD or GAD symptoms (all p’s > .05). Lastly, higher individual climate action was significantly associated with higher climate activism (p < .001).

Table 2 Correlation matrix for all variables in the analysis (N = 284) Full size table

No significant differences on any of the variables in the current study were detected between the 284 participants in the analytic sample and the 39 participants dropped due to missing data (all p’s > .05).

Major Depressive Disorder Symptoms

The results of the multivariate linear regression model predicting MDD symptoms are shown in Table 3. The model was statistically significant, F(15, 268) = 3.71, p < .001, accounting for 17.2% of the variance in MDD symptoms. Higher CCA functional impairment was significantly associated with higher MDD symptoms (p = .026), whereas the association between CCA cognitive emotional impairment and MDD symptoms was non-significant (p = .131). Higher individual climate action was marginally associated with lower MDD symptoms (p = .071), whereas the relationship between climate activism and MDD symptoms was non-significant (p = .527).

Table 3 Results of multivariable regression analyses predicting mental health outcomes Full size table

The addition of the interaction between CCA cognitive emotional impairment and climate activism to the model was statistically significant, F(1, 267) = 4.39, p = .037, and accounted for 1.3% additional variance in MDD symptoms. Analysis of conditional effects showed that CCA cognitive emotional impairment was significantly associated with MDD symptoms for participants reporting low and mean levels of climate activism (B = 3.33, SE = 1.29, p = .010, and B = 2.12, SE = 0.90, p = .020), whereas the relationships was non-significant for those reporting high environmental activism (B = 0.90, SE = 0.80, p = .261). Figure 1 further shows that climate activism buffered the impact of CCA cognitive emotional impairment on MDD symptoms. The interaction between CCA functional impairment and climate activism was non-significant, F(1, 267) = 0.33, Δ R2 = .001, p = .566, as were the interactions between both CCA subscales and individual climate action (cognitive emotional impairment: F[1, 267] < 0.01, Δ R2 < .001, p = .960; functional impairment: F[1, 267] = 0.05, Δ R2 < .001, p = .821).

Fig. 1 Association between CCA cognitive emotional impairment and MDD symptoms for participants with low and high levels of climate activism Full size image

Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

Table 3 also shows the results of the multivariable linear regression model predicting GAD symptoms. The model was significant, F(15, 268) = 5.37, p < .001, accounting for 23.1% of the variance in GAD symptoms. Higher levels of both CCA cognitive emotional impairment and CCA functional impairment were significantly associated with higher GAD symptoms (p = .046 and p = .011, respectively). Higher individual action was associated with lower GAD symptoms (p = .042), whereas the relationship between climate activism and GAD symptoms was non-significant (p = .396).

Neither the interaction between CCA cognitive emotional impairment and climate activism, nor the interaction between CCA functional impairment and climate activism accounted for additional variance in GAD symptoms (F[1, 267] = 1.00, Δ R2 = .003, p = .317, and F[1, 267] = 1.93, Δ R2 = .006, p = .166, respectively). Interactions between CCA subscales and individual climate action were also non-significant (cognitive emotional impairment: F[1, 267] < 0.01, Δ R2 < .001, p = .960; functional impairment: F[1, 267] = 0.03, Δ R2 < .001, p = .861).

Qualitative Findings

Summary of General Qualitative Findings

From the full sample of 284 participants, 223 participants (79.9%) responded to the optional open-ended question asking about worries surrounding climate change, and 211 (75.7%) responded to the optional open-ended question asking them to describe any actions they took to address climate change. No one wrote about actions to address climate change without describing worries first. Responses about worries varied from 1 to 316 words (M = 39.02), and those about actions varied from 1 to 227 words (M = 30.64).

Table 4 includes a summary of the general themes identified in participants’ responses. Responses describing worries about climate change illustrated four major and recurrent themes: environmental damage, collective inaction, human global suffering, and individual suffering. Responses describing actions to address climate change showed that almost all participants who responded to the question engaged in individual actions that were measured in the Individual Action scale (e.g., recycling, turning off lights and saving energy). Many also detailed individual actions that were not assessed in the scale. Collective actions were less commonly described than individual actions, and all the collective actions described by the participants were included in the Climate Activism scale.

Table 4 Summary of general qualitative findings Full size table

Qualitative Analysis of High Distress Subsample

Among 47 participants with elevated CCA and probable MDD and/or GAD, 37 (78.7%) responded to the optional open-ended questions. In contrast to the general qualitative findings, this high distress subsample of 37 comments particularly emphasized 5 distinctive themes: (1) the deadly threat posed by climate change, (2) its immediacy, celerity, and irreversibility, (3) the future global chaos due to climate change, (4) their helplessness in face of collective inaction, and (5) their paralysis and fewer collective actions.

The Deadly Threat Posed by Climate Change

Respondents gave numerous accounts of the “existential threat” posed by climate change for humans (“[me] and my peers’ future, […] marginalized populations”), and for animals (“Certain animals [are] dying including polar bears. I am a big animal lover”). Several participants were afraid of massive yet undefined threats. One participant wrote, “I’m worried about the worst that could happen in my lifetime,” with the planet becoming “unlivable in a few decades” due to the combination of scarce resources and overpopulation, while another wrote, “Many more animals and insects we need to survive as a population will go extinct. I am more afraid of running out of natural materials because of overpopulation as well.” Many participants described deadly threats of “widespread famine,” and climate change-related disasters such as “fires and natural storms” that were expected to “wipe out populations.” Others tackled the responsibility of capitalism in what they compared to the murder of millions of persons: “larger corporations […] will kill us all.”

The Immediacy, Celerity and Irreversibility of Climate Change

In contrast with the overall sample, the high distress subsample stressed the immediacy of climate change and already witnessing its effects, stating “we already know a lot of what will happen and are experiencing it.” Their frequent use of the present tense emphasized already current consequences, for example, “My boyfriend’s family […] receive small earthquakes all the time now and big ones often starting only recently.” The celerity of climate change was also stressed by these participants, who envisioned disaster occurring within a narrow time frame (e.g., “what the world will look like in 10-20 years”). Their awareness of a countdown was distressful (“something that really scared me was the clock in New York. It is scary knowing we have such little time until we see catastrophe”) and led them to question the responsibility of bringing “kids into a world that is currently on a climate clock.” The irreversibility of an upcoming “permanent damage” was stressed by the participants. Not only did some participants refer to irreversible changes (e.g., “we will no longer be able to see the world as it is”), but others also went so far as to describe the world as “dying at a rapid rate.”

Chained Events Leading to Global chaos

This subsample of participants expected the impact of climate change to “exacerbate the problems that many people already worry about” and provoke chained-events leading to “future pandemics. Future economic collapse.” One participant noted, “Almost everything will be affected by climate change, mostly negatively.” Participants worried about “the civil unrest caused by the migration” of “millions of people,” that will exacerbate “ethnic/racial and [socioeconomic] inequality.” Thus, they expected climate change to provoke conflict escalation, describing a process in which “Weather becomes less reliable, people move around, life becomes more precarious for many, perhaps fervor in group identification increases (e.g., religious), and the chances for conflict to spark increase,” including “the chances of nuclear weapon usage.”

Helplessness in Face of Collective Inaction

Participants in the high distress subsample lamented decades of collective inaction in a similar way as the overall population of the survey, stating, “We’ve known this was coming for 50 years, and there is no real commitment to reduce the impact of oil and pollution from large corporations.” Citizens’ indifference, ignorance, and mistrust was worrisome for these participants as well as the politicization of the issue. Just as the overall population of the survey, they stressed the lack of “large, structural changes,” supported by the interests of the few wealthiest actors, such as “corporations”, “states” and “top billionaires.” The selfishness and impunity of such attitudes was stressed by the participants, noting, “[they] tend to not care because it doesn’t affect them,” “no one is holding them to account” and “a fraction of their wealth would be sufficient to almost stop climate change.”

While similar themes of helplessness were noted in both the general sample and the high distress subsample, those in the subsample expressed their helplessness more vividly than the others. While they described diverse individual actions consistent with the general results most of them started their accounts by humble regrets, “I try,” “I attempt,” or “I wish I could.” Their awareness of the almost insignificant impact of individual actions appeared burdening. For example, one participant stated, “It is not bad at all to make environmentally friendly choices on an individual level, but there are much larger powers at play that are actively harming the climate. Without directly taking action to stop or regulate that harm on a larger scale, individual lifestyle changes will not make a large enough impact to save us.”

Paralysis and Fewer Collective Actions

While the 37 responses about worries in this subsample tended to be more detailed and longer than those of the general population, the rare concise answers conveyed a desperate tone. To the question “what worries you about climate change?” a few participants simply wrote: “Everything.” This high distress subsample described climate change disrupting their engagement with goals typically salient in emerging adulthood such as education, career, and family-related goals. One participant stated, “Even going to college and thinking of my future at times feels misguided and naive when facing the reality that there is a large chance that I won’t be able to have children, a future or a stable career in a world that is devastated by climate change.” Sacrificing parenthood to reduce population growth appeared to be one way some participants strived to maintain agency over what remained in their control, noting “Myself as a privileged person has a choice, is it responsible to bring more people into the world when I know population growth is a driver of climate change?” While these comments focused on disengaging from typical goals and milestones that may provide a sense of purpose or meaning, there was no mention of these being replaced with other goals or purpose. Actions that participants in this subsample were taking to address climate change primarily emphasized individual actions to reduce their carbon footprint, and those that did mention collective actions provided fewer details about those actions than the overall population. These participants seemed motivated to take action, but unable to engage in meaningful collective action. One participant described, “It is scary knowing we have such little time until we see catastrophe. I wish I could do more to help such as joining a club and being active in doing this but because of the pandemic it is just very hard to go out and meet with people […] I wish there was a climate change group or something that I can talk to more people about it.” Table 5 provides sample paired responses to the questions about worries and actions in the high distress subsample and highlights the immensity of their worries along with a perception of the insignificance or even absurdity of their actions in the face of climate change.

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[1] Url: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-022-02735-6

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