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Climate anxiety, pro-environmental action and wellbeing: antecedents and outcomes of negative emotional responses to climate change in 28 countries

Ogunbode, Charles Adedayo; Lomas, Michael; 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, Rakhman; 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

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Authors

Charles Adedayo Ogunbode

Rouven Doran

Daniel Hanss

Maria Ojala

Katariina Salmela-Aro

Karlijn L. van den Broek

Navjot Bhullar

Sibele D. Aquino

Tiago Marot

Julie Aitken Schermer

Anna Wlodarczyk

Su Lu

Feng Jiang

Daniela Acquadro Maran

Radha Yadav

Rakhman Ardi

Razieh Chegeni

Elahe Ghanbarian

Somayeh Zand

Reza Najafi

Joonha Park

Takashi Tsubakita

Chee-Seng Tan

JohnBosco Chika Chukwuorji

Kehinde Ojewumi

Hajra Tahir

Mai Albzour

Marc Eric S. Reyes

Samuel Lins

Violeta Enea

Tatiana Volkodav

Tomas Sollar

Ginés Navarro-Carrillo

Jorge Torres-Marín

Winfred Mbungu

Arin H. Ayanian

Jihane Ghorayeb

Charles Onyutha



Abstract

This study explored the antecedents and outcomes of negative emotional responses to climate change among people from a diverse range of cultural and national contexts. We analysed cross-sectional data gathered in 28 countries (N = 10,963). Our results show that negative emotional responses to climate change are positively related to the amount of attention people pay to climate change information, rates of exposure to information about climate change impacts, and perceived social expectations regarding emotional responding to climate change. Negative climate-related emotions were also positively related to pro-environmental behaviours and inversely associated with mental wellbeing. Notably, while negative climate-related emotions had a significant inverse association with mental wellbeing in all 28 countries, they only had a significant positive association with pro-environmental behaviour (46%) and environmental activism (25%) in a minority of countries. Our findings highlight the broad international significance of negative climate-related emotions as a plausible threat to mental wellbeing.

Citation

Ogunbode, C. A., Lomas, M., Doran, R., Hanss, D., Ojala, M., Salmela-Aro, K., …Onyutha, C. Climate anxiety, pro-environmental action and wellbeing: antecedents and outcomes of negative emotional responses to climate change in 28 countries

Working Paper Type Working Paper
Deposit Date Aug 27, 2024
Publicly Available Date Oct 17, 2024
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/yn6tc

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