Symptoms of anxiety and worry about climate impacts among Finnish forest owners

Private forest owners face conflicting pressures regarding management of their forests, including producing timber for the forest industry, preserving biodiversity, and enhancing carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change. At the same time, climate change poses a threat to the viability of forests. It is poorly known how these pressures affect the mental well-being of forest owners. We used a Finnish forest owner survey (N = 1224) to examine whether distress due to public demands regarding forest management is associated with symptoms of anxiety. We also examined which factors are associated with worry about the climate change impacts on own forests. Distress due to public demands on forest management was not associated with symptoms of anxiety. Only stress due to the invasion of Russia into Ukraine was associated with symptoms of anxiety. Having multiple objectives as a forest owner, being female gender, and having higher education were associated with worry about the climate change impacts on own forests. In conclusion, distress due to public demands regarding forest management may not be associated with forest owners' anxiety symptoms. Worry about the climate change impacts on own forests may be partly explained by higher awareness regarding the various possibilities that forests can offer.