Predictors of climate anxiety and climate policy support in a British public

The current study investigates the existence of climate anxiety amongst a British public. Given the threat presented to human wellbeing from a changing climate, this study adds to a growing research body that seeks to understand and improve efforts to help deal with the mental health challenge climate change is increasingly presenting to the public. Using an online sample, 898 participants were asked to complete various survey measures including climate anxiety, storm fear, existential thinking, compassion, risk perceptions, policy support and various demographics. Participants were also asked to provide top-of-mind image associations with climate change. Results revealed that although prevalence of climate anxiety is low, the strongest predictors of this construct included age, storm fear, risk perception and existential thinking with younger participants, those who are fearful of severe weather, those who perceive climate change as a serious threat and those who engage in existential thinking behaviours reporting higher levels of climate anxiety. Additionally, ‘alarm’ based image associations were the most frequent top-of-mind thoughts participants associated with climate change with phrases including ‘destruction of our planet’, ‘emergency’ and ‘existential climate disaster’ being provided. Climate anxiety was also a strong predictor in a regression analysis of climate policy support alongside risk perception, political ideology and compassion. The results demonstrate the important need to better understand climate anxiety and the role it is playing as a growing problem amongst a British public.