Climate Change Anxiety and Its Impact on Well-being: The Mediating Role of Pro-environmental Behaviour

Anthropogenic climate change poses a significant threat to human well-being and has been shown to elicit negative emotional responses including anxiety, often referred to as climate change anxiety. Climate change anxiety has gained increasing attention in psychological research and its relation to several outcome variables, such as well-being and pro-environmental behaviour, has been examined in various ways. However, prior research on climate change anxiety and its association with well-being has predominantly focused on negative mental health outcomes, such as depression, generalised anxiety or stress. When positive well-being indicators were included, studies typically assessed life satisfaction as a global measure of well-being. Consequently, little is known about how climate change anxiety relates to a broader range of positive well-being outcomes, such as life satisfaction, positive and negative affect or meaning in life. Given the complex and multidimensional nature of well-being, it should be conceptualized as a multi-faceted construct. Thus, in this study well-being will be operationalized, including both hedonic and eudaimonic aspects. Similarly, pro-environmental behaviour has been operationalized differently across studies. A relevant distinction could be made between active engagement in pro-environmental behaviour (e.g. recycling, environmental activism) and climate-related abstinence behaviour (e.g., abstaining from consuming dairy products, abstaining from all-inclusive vacations). This differentiation may be particularly relevant, since research indicates that abstinence behaviours have a substantial environmental impact. Therefore, this study differentiates between climate-related abstinence behaviour and active engagement in pro-environmental behaviour. Overall, this study aims to examine both well-being and pro-environmental behaviour in a differentiated and multidimensional way. Additionally, pro-environmental behaviour may play a significant role in the relationship between climate change anxiety and well-being. Previous studies have shown that climate change anxiety is negatively associated with mental health and well-being, yet it is also positively associated with pro-environmental behaviour, which in turn has been linked to higher levels of well-being. Therefore, experiencing climate change anxiety could motivate individuals to act in a more environmentally conscious way, in turn increasing their well-being. To the best of our knowledge, no study has investigated both forms of pro-environmental behaviour as parallel mediators and examined different dimensions of well-being as outcome variables. By addressing this gap, the study aims to provide a more comprehensive view on the relationship between climate change anxiety, well-being, and pro-environmental behaviour.