Feeling anxious and being engaged in a warming world: climate anxiety and adolescents' pro-environmental behavior / Jenna SPITZER ; Stathis GRAPSAS ; Judith VAN DE WETERING ; Astrid POORTHUIS ; Anouk SMEEKES ; Sander THOMAES in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 65-10 (October 2024)  

Public ISBD [article]  inJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry > 65-10 (October 2024) . - p.1270-1282 Titre : Feeling anxious and being engaged in a warming world: climate anxiety and adolescents' pro-environmental behavior Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Jenna SPITZER, Auteur ; Stathis GRAPSAS, Auteur ; Judith VAN DE WETERING, Auteur ; Astrid POORTHUIS, Auteur ; Anouk SMEEKES, Auteur ; Sander THOMAES, Auteur Article en page(s) : p.1270-1282 Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : Climate anxiety  adolescents  pro-environmental behavior  environmental efficacy Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Background Climate anxiety is increasingly prevalent among adolescents worldwide. Are climate-anxious adolescents prone to engage in pro-environmental behavior? Or might the association between climate anxiety and pro-environmental be curvilinear, such that high levels of climate anxiety become ?paralyzing?? And do these associations depend on whether adolescents believe that, with effort, the worst impacts of climate change can still be prevented? Methods We addressed these questions in three studies (two preregistered; combined N?=?2,211), conducted across two countries. We used cross-sectional and longitudinal methods, and various measures of climate anxiety and pro-environmental behavior. We performed Bayesian regression analyses comparing two models that tested competing hypotheses. The first model included a linear effect of climate anxiety on pro-environmental behavior, and the second model included both a linear and a curvilinear (i.e. inverted U-shaped) effect of climate anxiety on pro-environmental behavior. Next, we added environmental efficacy to the best fitting model and explored its moderating effects. Results Adolescents reported low-to-moderate levels of climate anxiety. Across the board, we found evidence for a small, positive, and mostly linear (rather than curvilinear) association between climate anxiety and pro-environmental behavior. While Study 1 supported a curvilinear association (Bayes Factor (BF)?=?18.87), Studies 2 and 3 mostly supported a linear model (BFs range 6.86?12.71), except for weak support (BF?=?1.62) for a curvilinear association between climate anxiety symptoms and public sphere pro-environmental behavior. Adolescents' environmental efficacy moderated this link for public sphere (e.g. activism), but not private sphere (e.g. recycling), pro-environmental behavior. Conclusions Climate-anxious adolescents are prone to engage in pro-environmental behavior. We found limited evidence for ?eco-paralysis? (i.e. a passive state of pro-environmental behavioral stasis) at high levels of climate anxiety. Our results are consistent with the possibility that supporting adolescents' environmental efficacy will help climate-anxious adolescents engage in public sphere pro-environmental behavior. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14035 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=535 [article] Feeling anxious and being engaged in a warming world: climate anxiety and adolescents' pro-environmental behavior [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Jenna SPITZER, Auteur ; Stathis GRAPSAS, Auteur ; Judith VAN DE WETERING, Auteur ; Astrid POORTHUIS, Auteur ; Anouk SMEEKES, Auteur ; Sander THOMAES, Auteur . - p.1270-1282. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry > 65-10 (October 2024) . - p.1270-1282 Mots-clés : Climate anxiety  adolescents  pro-environmental behavior  environmental efficacy Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Background Climate anxiety is increasingly prevalent among adolescents worldwide. Are climate-anxious adolescents prone to engage in pro-environmental behavior? Or might the association between climate anxiety and pro-environmental be curvilinear, such that high levels of climate anxiety become ?paralyzing?? And do these associations depend on whether adolescents believe that, with effort, the worst impacts of climate change can still be prevented? Methods We addressed these questions in three studies (two preregistered; combined N?=?2,211), conducted across two countries. We used cross-sectional and longitudinal methods, and various measures of climate anxiety and pro-environmental behavior. We performed Bayesian regression analyses comparing two models that tested competing hypotheses. The first model included a linear effect of climate anxiety on pro-environmental behavior, and the second model included both a linear and a curvilinear (i.e. inverted U-shaped) effect of climate anxiety on pro-environmental behavior. Next, we added environmental efficacy to the best fitting model and explored its moderating effects. Results Adolescents reported low-to-moderate levels of climate anxiety. Across the board, we found evidence for a small, positive, and mostly linear (rather than curvilinear) association between climate anxiety and pro-environmental behavior. While Study 1 supported a curvilinear association (Bayes Factor (BF)?=?18.87), Studies 2 and 3 mostly supported a linear model (BFs range 6.86?12.71), except for weak support (BF?=?1.62) for a curvilinear association between climate anxiety symptoms and public sphere pro-environmental behavior. Adolescents' environmental efficacy moderated this link for public sphere (e.g. activism), but not private sphere (e.g. recycling), pro-environmental behavior. Conclusions Climate-anxious adolescents are prone to engage in pro-environmental behavior. We found limited evidence for ?eco-paralysis? (i.e. a passive state of pro-environmental behavioral stasis) at high levels of climate anxiety. Our results are consistent with the possibility that supporting adolescents' environmental efficacy will help climate-anxious adolescents engage in public sphere pro-environmental behavior. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14035 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=535

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