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A new study describes factors associated with self-reported climate anxiety in the United States. The study was published in the open-access journal PLOS Climate by Katherine Kricorian from For Good Measure, United States, and colleagues Karin Turner and Christopher Kricorian, who is also a current high school student.

Climate change has many adverse effects on the environment and human health, including higher rates of self-reported anxiety. In this study, Kricorian and co-authors investigated factors associated with self-reported climate anxiety.

The authors surveyed 2, 000 US adults demographically representative of the US population, asking about their knowledge, beliefs, behavior, and emotions related to climate change, including the question "Does climate change make you feel anxious?"

Some 26% of respondents indicated they felt anxiety around climate change, while 48% of respondents without anxiety around climate change also denied that climate change is real.

Significant predictors of self-reported climate anxiety included: greater media exposure to climate change information; more frequent discussions about climate change with friends and family; the perception that climate change will soon impact one personally; being younger; and being female.

Perhaps surprisingly, familiarity with climate change, political party, and education level were not significant predictors of climate anxiety. Climate anxiety was also associated with both positive and negative emotions, including motivation, interest, sadness, and tension, as well as greater engagement in environmental behaviors such as recycling.

Respondents reporting climate anxiety were also more likely to believe volunteering for environmental causes and accessing straightforward climate information with less scientific jargon would help mitigate their climate anxiety.

The authors note that their survey respondents had previously agreed to participate in research projects more generally before being included in this study and thus may not fully represent the US population.

They hope future research in this area will further explore the relationship between personal experience with climate-change-driven events, such as droughts or wildfires, and self-reported climate anxiety.

More information: Kricorian K, et al. Predictors and correlates of self-reported climate anxiety in the United States. PLOS Climate (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000534  Journal information: PLOS Climate