When climate anxiety motivates versus paralyzes: A conceptual replication of the inverted U-shaped relationship between climate anxiety and pro-environmental behavior

While some studies have linked higher Climate Anxiety (CA) to higher levels of Pro-Environmental Behavior (PEB), other studies have found an inverted U-shaped relationship, with intermediate levels of CA relating to more PEB and high and low levels of CA being associated with less PEB. This suggests that high levels of CA may cause eco-paralysis, i.e., feeling so overwhelmed by environmental problems that it reduces PEB. However, given that only a few studies demonstrated this inverted U-shaped relationship between CA and PEB and due to the narrow range of operationalizations applied to these constructs, we wanted to replicate this pattern in a large, independent sample. Therefore, a convenience sample of 1205 Dutch participants completed the Climate Change Anxiety Scale (CCAS), the Pro-Environmental Behavior Scale (PEBS), and several other scales. Replicating previous findings, a regression analysis yielded a significant negative quadratic relationship between CCAS on PEBS ( b = -0.02, p < .001). Additionally, the quadratic model fitted the data better than a linear model. This study replicates previous reports about an inverted curvilinear relationship between CA and PEB, implying that moderate levels of CA are optimal for the reported expression of PEB, where low levels of CA are related to low reported expression of PEB, and high levels of CA indeed may hamper PEB. Implications and potential associations with eco-paralysis are discussed. • Climate anxiety (CA) and pro-environmental behavior (PEB) could have an inverted U-shaped relationship • In a broad sample, we replicated the inverted U-shaped relationship found in prior studies • Moderate levels of CA are linked to higher levels of PEB • Lower and higher levels of CA are linked to lower levels of PEB • High levels of CA might be a maladaptive response to the threat of climate change