Symposia
Climate Change
Jedidiah Siev, Ph.D.
Associate professor
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Jedidiah Siev, Ph.D.
Associate professor
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Santiago Caicedo, B.A.
Student
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Nicole Daly, Student
Student
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
John Duarte, Student
Student
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Damla Gundogdu, Student
Student
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Dakota Li, B.A.
Student
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Carlee Marquez, Student
Student
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Zoe Porterfield, B.A.
Student
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Lotus Shareef-Trudeau, B.A.
Student
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Kirk Terada-Herzer, Student
Student
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Andrea Toledo Cortes, B.A.
Student
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Veronica Yabloko, B.A.
Student
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Recent trends indicate troubling increases in rates of anxiety about climate change (e.g., Clayton & Karazsia, 2020). However, there is a relative paucity of research on factors associated with climate anxiety. The threat of climate change is characterized by many factors known to exacerbate pathological anxiety, such as uncertainty and potential catastrophe. In some ways, then, climate change is fertile ground for vulnerability factors to anxiety more broadly. There are also factors that are not usually associated with anxiety, or may even typically buffer against anxiety, that may be related specifically to climate anxiety. One example is generativity, which is the tendency to be concerned about one’s legacy and impact on future generations.
In Study 1, 302 participants completed three measures of climate anxiety, as well as measures of symptoms (depression, anxiety, and stress), the tendency to catastrophize, intolerance of uncertainty, and generativity. A composite score of the climate anxiety measures was correlated with symptoms (r = .57, p < .001), catastrophizing (r = .54, p < .001), and intolerance of uncertainty (r = .34, p < .001), but not generativity (r = -.01, p = .92). Considering that climate anxiety is a case of anxiety, we regressed climate anxiety separately on each predictor, controlling for symptoms, to examine which factors uniquely predicted climate anxiety. Catastrophizing predicted climate anxiety above and beyond other symptoms (b = .26, p < .001) but intolerance of uncertainty did not (b = .05, p = .39). After controlling for symptoms, generativity (which was negatively correlated with symptoms, r = -.27, p < .001) predicted climate anxiety (b = .16, p = .001).
Study 2 was a pre-registered replication and extension of Study 1. 295 participants completed the same measures, as well as a measure of fear of guilt. All correlations were similar in magnitude and significance to those in Study 1, as were the results of the regressions controlling for symptoms. Fear of guilt was correlated with climate anxiety (r = .38, p < .001). After covarying symptoms it was a nonsignificant trend (b = .10, p = .07).
These results highlight potential vulnerability factors that are associated specifically with climate anxiety either in addition to, or in contrast with, anxiety more broadly. Future research with experimental or prospective designs is necessary to address causality. In addition, further work is needed to examine when climate anxiety is adaptive versus pathological, with attention to measurement.