The relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behavior in adolescents: the mediating role of future self-continuity and the moderating role of green self-efficacy

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3930493/v1

Download PDF

Research Article

The relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behavior in adolescents: the mediating role of future self-continuity and the moderating role of green self-efficacy

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3930493/v1

This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License

Journal Publication

published 27 Apr, 2024

Read the published version in BMC Psychology →

You are reading this latest preprint version

Background

Climate change is seriously affecting human survival and development, and the anxiety caused by it is becoming increasingly prominent. How to alleviate people's climate change anxiety, improve the ecological environment, and promote the formation of green lifestyles among people, especially young people, is an important topic worth exploring. This study examined the relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environment behaviors and the underlying psychological mechanism in the adolescents based on the proposed moderated mediation model.

Methods

This study explored the crucial role of future self-continuity between climate change anxiety (CCA) and pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) in adolescents and examined the moderating role of green self-efficacy. In this study, 1851 middle school students in four grades of junior high school and senior high school were selected for the questionnaire survey.

Results

The results showed that (1) in both middle and high school grades, there was a significant negative correlation between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors; future self-continuity was significantly positively correlated with pro-environmental behaviors; green self-efficacy was negatively correlated with climate change anxiety and positively correlated with pro-environmental behaviors; (2) climate change anxiety negatively predicted pro-environmental behaviors, and compared with middle school grades, high school grade adolescents' climate change anxiety was significantly predicted pro-environmental behaviors. Future self-continuity mediated the relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors in both grades. (3) Green self-efficacy moderated the second half of the mediating pathway among middle school-aged adolescents. In contrast, the moderating effect of green self-efficacy was not significant in high school grades. Future self-continuity had a greater impact on pro-environmental behaviors in the high green self-efficacy group compared to the low green self-efficacy group.

Conclusion

The results of this study suggest that there is a moderated mediation model between adolescent climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors, with different mediating and moderating effects among adolescents in various grade levels. This has important implications for targeting the alleviation of adolescent climate anxiety and fostering their pro-environmental behaviors.

Climate change anxiety

Pro-environmental behavior

Future self-continuity

Green self-efficacy

Relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors

A report published in the top international medical journal The Lancet stated that global temperatures reach their highest point in 100000 years in 2023, with high temperature records broken on every continent, causing fatal damage to human health worldwide. According to the Global Risks Report 2023 published by the World Economic Forum, the failure to mitigate climate change and to adapt to climate change have already been ranked as the top two global risks in terms of severity over the next decade. The world's environmental problems are jeopardizing the survival and development of human. Negative emotions have been triggered by the concerns about the consequences, such as anxiety and distress, which affect physical and mental health. In a global survey of 10000 young people aged 16–25, nearly 60% of respondents said they were "extremely worried" or "apprehensive" about climate change, and 75% said that "the future is scary" [1]. It may lead to measurable structural or functional changes in the brain and psychopathology later in life [2, 3], if there is still frequent exposure to stressors during the formative years of children and adolescents, stress-vulnerability model of health says [4].

Climate change affects mental health in three main ways: direct, indirect, and alternative. Most studies have focused on direct impacts which concentrates in experiencing extreme weather events such as floods or hurricanes, which triggers post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and suicide [5–7]. Indirect impact refers to the economy, migration, destruction of social infrastructure, and shortage of food and water resources [8]. Meanwhile, people who accesses information about climate change through modern communication technologies also can experience anxiety [9], which is called alternative. The Blue Book of Youth: China's Minors' Internet Use Report (2023) shows that because China's minor's Internet penetration rate is almost saturated, young people can easily access information about climate change through their own experiences or the Internet.

Climate Change Anxiety, also known as ecological anxiety, refers to people's fear of the changing and uncertain natural environment [10]. People's cognitive, emotional, decision-making, and behavioral responses are affected extensively by climate change anxiety. For example, persistent worry, psychological distress, or sleep difficulties associated with the long-term consequences of climate change may lead to dysfunction; concerns about climate change lead to cognitive deficits, learning, adaptation, and interpersonal problems [11–15]. Moreover, warmer temperatures can impair mental health and increase the risk of suicidal behavior [16].

Behaviorally, Pro-environmental Behavior is directly related to climate change anxiety. Pro-environmental Behavior, also known as Green Behavior, is a form of Pro-social Behavior. Pro-environmental behavior mainly refers to behaviors taken at the individual or family level that are beneficial to the environment or minimize negative impacts on the environment [17]. This kind of behavior can reduce ecological damage, protect natural resources, and improve environmental quality, mainly including the private realm (e.g. green consumption, low-carbon travel) and the public realm (e.g. supporting environmental policies and donating to environmental organizations)[18].

There is a complex relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors. Climate change anxiety may either stimulate or inhibit pro-environmental behaviors in individuals or even lead to the emergence of some non-environmentally related behaviors. Most researchers believe that climate change anxiety has a positive and constructive effect on pro-environmental behaviors to improve the ecological environment and that pro-environmental behaviors are the most effective adaptive response to climate change anxiety [19]. Dijkstra and Goedhart [20] found that attitudes toward climate change urgency are positively related to pro-environmental behavior and are positively correlated with anxiety. When people recognize the viciousness of climate, they will become anxious, which in turn leads to individuals becoming greener. Tao et al.[21] also found that haze perception promotes protective behaviors by triggering anxiety. In contrast, some research demonstrates that negative psychology about climate change can also prevent individuals from dealing with problems constructively. Specifically, climate change anxiety may weak responsiveness and leads to feelings of helplessness and despair. This situation is known as ecological paralysis [22], characterized by depression, excessive anxiety, despair, and apathy, where individuals perceive that they are more inclined to adopt a cold attitude rather than pro environmental behavior in the face of malignant climate change [23].

Whether climate change anxiety plays a positive or negative role in pro-environmental behavior is still controversial, especially when research focus on adolescents in the critical period of socialization. How to develop pro-environmental behaviors with long-term significance and alleviate climate change anxiety is an urgent concern. The 2022 Youth Mental Health Survey Report from a nationwide survey of over 30000 adolescents showed 14.8% of the adolescents had varying degrees of depression risk, and the anxiety risk detection rate was 15.8, which is extracted. Based on the cognitive-developmental characteristics and the current status of negative emotions among adolescents nowadays, we propose Hypothesis 1: Climate change anxiety is negatively correlated with pro-environmental behaviors.

The mediating role of future self-continuity

Time is also central to understanding climate change, there are many temporal dimensions describing the biophysical phenomenon of climate change. The most fundamental temporal dimension of climate change is its expansion into the future [24]. When looking at the future, people tend to make distinctions between themselves and others. For climate change, people believe that their future will be better than others, especially in the case of environmental pollution, which will happen to others rather than themselves [25]. Therefore, how people perceive their future "selves" will affect individual behavioral tendencies and intertemporal decision making. Future Self-Continuity refers to the degree to which the present and future self are closely connected [26]. According to the theory of self-perception and self-determination, an individual's self-awareness is not only limited to the present self, but also associated with their past and future. The stronger the psychological connection between the present self and the past and future, the stronger the emotional response experienced, and the easier it is to motivate individuals to make more visionary behaviors [27]. Pro-environmental behaviors are essentially judgments made for future self, reflecting inter-temporal decision making. Future self-continuity directly influences temporal discounting [28, 29]. Future Self-Continuity Model states increasing the connection between subjects' future selves and their present selves reduces the rate of temporal discounting and makes individuals more willing to wait for more payoffs in the future [30]. Conversely, individuals with low future self-continuity perceive their future selves as different from their present selves and are less likely to think forwardly. Future self-continuity also affects various aspects of behavior, such as spending, academic performance, and pro-social behavior. High future self-continuity tend to control present expenditures and save money [28]. Self-control is also related, for placing more emphasis on the impact of present behaviour on future outcomes, and put more effort into future academic achievement [31]. In terms of prosocial behavior, the continuity and consistency between the future self and the present self will affect an individual's pro-social behavior. The higher the continuity of an individual's future self, the corresponding increase in their prosocial behavior and donations to public welfare organizations [32].

Future self-continuity is a temporal dimension of self-representation in which people can imagine the future, in this way people can perceive the event as being closer in time [33, 34]. Pre-experiencing climate change using situational future thinking will enhance risk perception of climate change and thus promote a tendency for people to take environmental action [35]. According to the study of Zaval, Markowitz, and Weber [36], if people can focus on their legacy, they will increase their subsequent donations to environmental charities, demonstrated greater willingness to be environmentally friendly, and have a greater confidence in climate change to change it. It is important to note that future self-continuity is not a stable personality trait, and methods such as the Letter Conversation Task is often used to quickly and temporarily enhance adolescents' future self-continuity [37].

Based on these analyses, future self-continuity can explain the mechanisms underlying climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors, higher levels of future self-continuity helped adolescents focus on the future, linking the present self more closely to the future self [38]. Therefore, this study proposes Hypothesis 2: Climate change anxiety negatively predicts future self-continuity, which in turn positively predicts pro-environmental behaviors.

The moderating role of green self-efficacy

Individuals' decision to engage in pro-environmental behaviors is also related to self-efficacy. Self-consistency theory suggests that individuals develop a self-perception of themselves, in which they perceive themselves as a person with the ability to satisfy a need. In climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors, it belongs to a specific region called green self-efficacy. It means that in the face of climate change issues such as global warming, people's assessment of their ability to cope with the threat will determine the individual's problem-solving behavior, self-protective behavior, and emotional response behavior, according to the Environmental cognitive stress model [39]. What's more, it is a person's belief in their ability to plan and execute the measures needed to achieve environmental goals, the activation of which depends on their confidence in handling and accomplishing environmental tasks [40]. Through this research, we can see higher green self-efficacy motivates people to take environmental actions and pursue environmental goals.

Green self-efficacy has been studied in some other areas. Scholars have concluded through research that in green consumption, the core factor determining whether green consumption is implemented or not is the improvement of self-efficacy, and green self-efficacy can promote green consumption behavior [41]. Green self-efficacy also plays a great role in green performance, green creativity, pro-environmental behaviors, and green purchase intentions [42–45]. In a study of green servant leadership and employee environmental behavior, Faraz et al. [46] thought when adolescents feel responsible and empowered to act to ameliorate climate change, they engage in more pro-environmental behaviors. As a result, this study proposed Hypothesis 3: Green self-efficacy plays a moderating role between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors. Specifically, when the adolescents' green self-efficacy was higher, pro-environmental behaviors were more influenced by future self-continuity.

Effect of age

Ages become another one to think about because of the inconsistencies exist in the pro-environmental behavior. Middle-aged and older adults are more concerned about nature and ecology-related issues than younger adults and are more likely to engage in pro-environmental behaviors [47]. Yet some researches suggest that young people are more concerned about environmental issues and have a higher frequency of pro-environmental behaviors such as using public transportation and recycling behaviors [48–51]. Research has showed that adolescents in the high school grades produce less pro-environmental behaviors than adolescents in the lower grades [52].

Adolescence is a unique period of cognitive development in the brain, with functions such as impulse control, memory, emotional regulation, and decision-making [53–55]. As a result, climate change anxiety can have different effects on pro-environmental behavior. Therefore, this study will to analyze a group of adolescents at different grade levels and explore whether there are differences in the relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors between higher and lower grade levels.

Purpose of the study

Based on the inspiration from the above theoretical and empirical studies, this study aimed to investigate as shown in Fig. 1: (1) the specific relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors, (2) whether future self-continuity plays a mediating effect between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors, and (3) whether green self-efficacy influences the occurrence of pro-environmental behaviors.

Participants and procedures

Six middle schools were selected in China, and junior high school and high school students were randomly selected for the survey. Two thousand questionnaires were distributed, and 1900 questionnaires were recovered, with a recovery rate of 95%. Excluding 49 invalid questionnaires with imperfect responses and single answers, a total of 1851 valid questionnaires were obtained, with a recovery rate of 97.42%. The socio-demographic information of the participants is shown in Table 1.

Participants in this study were middle school students, and data were collected on a classroom basis. Informed consent was obtained from students, parents, and the school prior to administration, and the psychologist and classroom teacher supervised the administration process. The Ethics Review Committee of Sichuan Normal University approved the study.

Table 1

Participant characteristics
Variables	Category	N	Percentage(%)
Gender	Male	822	44.41%
Gender	Female	1029	55.59%
Grade	Senior	1159	62.61%
Grade	Junior	692	37.39%
Student's Place of Residence	Urban	1671	90.28%
Student's Place of Residence	Rural	180	9.72%
Residency	Reside at school	757	40.90%
Residency	Not-resident	1095	59.16%
Unique births	A single birth	758	40.95%
Unique births	Not a single birth	1093	50.05%
Parental Marital Status	Divorce	244	13.18%
Parental Marital Status	Non-Divorced	1607	86.82%

Measures

Climate change anxiety

The Climate Change Anxiety Scale (CCAS), developed by Clayton and Karazsia in 2020 [56], measures the level of climate change anxiety in adolescents. For example, "Thinking about climate change distracts me." The scale is divided into two dimensions, cognitive-emotional impairment, and functional impairment, and consists of 13 question items with no reverse scoring items; higher scores indicate higher levels of climate change anxiety. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient in this study was 0.91.

Pro-environmental behavior

In this study, the Pro-Environmental Behavior Questionnaire (PEBQ), revised by Florian in 2007 [57], was used to select questions suitable for measuring the pro-environmental behaviors of secondary school students. The questionnaire consists of 15 items (e.g., "Separating garbage into different categories"). It is scored on a 5-point scale, five of which are reverse scored, with higher total scores representing more pro-environmental behaviors. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient in this study was 0.76.

Future self-continuity

Adolescents' level of future self-continuity was measured using the Future Self-Continuity Questionnaire (FSCQ), which Sokol and Serper developed, and the Chinese version of which was tested for good reliability by Feng Zhang et al in 2022 [58]. The questionnaire consists of three dimensions, which are similarity, vividness and positivity. A total of 10 question items were scored on a 6-point scale, with higher total scores indicating higher levels of future self-continuity. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient in this study was 0.86.

Green self-efficacy

The present study used the Revised Green Self-Efficacy Questionnaire by Du et al. in 2022 to measure the level of individual green self-efficacy [59]. The questionnaire consists of four dimensions, which are environmental responsibility (e.g., "It is my responsibility to do my best to protect the environment and conserve resources."), green self-efficacy (e.g., "I feel that I can successfully practice environmental protection concepts."), green perceived value ("Using green products helps improve the ecological environment."), green purchase intention ("I am willing to look for and buy green products."). There were a total of 17 question items, using a 7-point scale, all of which were positively scored. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient in this study was 0.97.

Data analysis

Standard method tests, multiple linear regression, descriptive statistics, and correlation analyses were performed using SPSS 26.0, and the mediation model with moderation was tested using the PROCESS 4.0 plug-in.

Control variables and Covariance

This study controlled for gender (0 = male, 1 = female) and age. Tolerance (Tol) of data results for multiple linear regression analysis ranged from 0.847 to 0.970, all greater than 0.1, and Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) ranged from 1.031 to 1.181, all less than 10. The data results indicate that there is no multicollinearity in the variables of this study.

Common method bias test

The Harman one-way test was used to test the results. The results showed that there were nine eigenvalues greater than 1, with the first factor explaining 19.527% of the cumulative variance, which is less than the critical value of 40%, indicating that there is no standard severe method bias in this study.

Mean, standard deviation, and correlation coefficient of each variable

Correlation analysis were shown in Table 2. Correlation analyses using the mean scores of each variable revealed that future self-continuity was positively correlated with pro-environmental behavior and green self-efficacy and negatively correlated with climate change anxiety; there was a negative correlation between green self-efficacy and climate change anxiety and a positive correlation with pro-environmental behavior; and there was a negative correlation between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behavior.

Table 2

Descriptive statistical results and correlation analysis of variables
		M	SD	1	2	3	4
1. Future Self-Continuity	Junior high	4.12	0.90	1
1. Future Self-Continuity	Senior high	3.87	0.81	1
2. Green Self-efficacy	Junior high	5.89	1.12	0.42^**	1
2. Green Self-efficacy	Senior high	5.23	1.09	0.28^**	1
3. Climate Change Anxiety	Junior high	1.57	0.61	-0.16^**	-0.14^**	1
3. Climate Change Anxiety	Senior high	1.67	0.65	-0.12^**	-0.10^**	1
4.Pro-environmental Behavior	Junior high	3.71	0.63	0.30^**	0.56^**	-0.12^**	1
4.Pro-environmental Behavior	Senior high	3.37	0.56	0.36^**	0.46^**	-0.09^**	1
Note.: p <* 0.05, ^p < 0.01, ^*p < 0.001. The variables in the model are standardised; all values are retained to two decimal places.

Mediating effects of future self-continuity

The data-set was created in SPSS 26.0 and the PROCESS macro program was used to analyze the data [60]. Model 4 in PROCESS, was applied to test the mediating role of future self-continuity among middle school and high school students, respectively. The results showed in Table 3 that climate change anxiety significantly predicted future self-continuity in both middle and high school students, controlling for gender and age (Junior: β = -0.13, t = -4.42, p < 0.001; Senior: β = -0.12, t = -3.46, p < 0.001). Climate change anxiety at the middle school level did not significantly predict pro-environmental behaviors (Junior: β = -0.06, t = -1.83, p > 0.05), and climate change anxiety at the high school level significantly predicted pro-environmental behaviors (Senior: β = -0.07, t = -2.00, p < 0.05). Future self-continuity significantly predicted pro-environmental behavior at both the middle school and high school levels (Junior: β = 0.34, t = 11.26, p < 0.001; Senior: β = 014, t = 4.25, p < 0.001). Mediation effects were significant at the junior and senior levels (Junior: indirect effect = -0.045, SE = 0.014, 95% CI = [-0.074, -0.020]; Senior: indirect effect = -0.017, SE = 0.009, 95% CI = [-0.037, − 0.003])(see Fig. 2), which supports hypothesis 1.

Table 3

Analysis of intermediation effects
Climate change anxiety	Junior high school students				Senior high school students
	Model 1 (Future Self-Continuity)		Model 2 (Pro-environmental Behavior)		Model 1 (Future Self-Continuity)		Model 2 (Pro-environmental Behavior)
	β	t	β	t	β	t	β	t
Constant	1.78	3.62^***	1.26	2.69^**	1.86	3.13^**	1.43	2.40^*
Age	-0.14	-3.62^***	-0.10	-2.83^**	-0.11	-3.04^**	-0.09	-2.41^***
Gender	-0.02	-0.27	0.12	2.04^*	-0.08	-1.09	0.02	0.26
CCA	-0.13	-4.22^***	-0.06	-1.83	-0.12	-3.04^**	-0.07	-2.00^*
FSC			0.34	11.26^***			0.14	4.25^***
R²	0.04		0.14		0.28		0.38
F	12.80^***		41.44^***		8.18^***		8.33^***
Note.^p < 0.05; ^p < 0.01; ^**p < 0.001.

Moderated mediation model test

Moderated mediation tests were conducted using Model 14 in the PROCESS macro program. Results in Table 4 showed that climate change anxiety remained a significant predictor of future self-continuity, controlling for gender and age (Junior: β=-0.13, t=-4.22, p < 0.001; Senior: β=-0.12, t = 6.20, p < 0.001); and that future self-continuity significantly and positively predicted pro-environmental behavior (Junior: β = 0.13, t = 4.68, p < 0.001; Senior: β = 0.02, t = 0.49, p < 0.001); none of the climate change anxiety significantly predicted pro-environmental behavior (Junior: β = -0.02, t = -0.83, p > 0.05; Senior: β = -0.04, t = -1.40, p > 0.05) ;

The interaction term between future self-continuity and green self-efficacy positively predicted pro-environmental behaviors at the middle school level (Junior: β = 0.07, t = 2.22, p < 0.05), and the interaction term was not significant at the high school level (Senior: β = 0.05, t = 1.82, p > 0.05).

There was a significant mediating effect of moderation at the middle school level (Junior: indirect effect = -0.008, SE = 0.004, 95% CI = [-0.017, -0.001]); and a non-significant mediating effect of moderation at the high school level (Senior: indirect effect = -0.005, SE = 0.004, 95% CI = [-0.016, 0.00]).

Table 4

Moderated mediation effect analysis
Climate change anxiety	Junior high school students				Senior high school students
	Model 1 (Future Self-Continuity)		Model 2 ((Pro-environmental Behavior)		Model 1 (Future Self-Continuity)		Model 2 ((Pro-environmental Behavior)
	β	t	β	t	β	t	β	t
Constant	1.78	3.62^***	0.96	2.35^*	1.86	3.13^***	1.94	3.60^***
Age	-0.14	-3.62^***	-0.08	-2.54^*	-0.11	1.39^**	-0.12	-3.61^***
Gender	-0.02	-0.27	0.10	1.95	-0.08	-0.38	-0.01	-0.17
CCA	-0.13	-4.22^***	-0.02	-0.83	-0.12	6.20^***	-0.04	-1.40
FSC			0.13	4.68^***			0.02	0.49
GSE			-0.51	17.10^***			0.45	14.35^***
FSC × GSE			0.07	2.22^*			0.05	1.82
R²	0.02		0.35		0.03		0.23
F	7.19^***		86.69^***		12.88^***		41.89^***
Note. ^p < 0.05; ^p < 0.01; ^**p < 0.001.

To further understand the essence of the interaction between future self-continuity and green self-efficacy, we plotted a simple effect plot using simple slope analysis (Fig. 3). It was found that in middle school, future self-continuity did not significantly predict pro-environmental behaviors with low green self-efficacy, and future self-continuity positively predicted pro-environmental behaviors with high green self-efficacy, i.e., the higher the future self-continuity, the more pro-environmental behaviors. (low green self-efficacy group: β = 0.07, t = 1.74, p > 0.05, 95% CI = [-0.009,0.154]; high green self-efficacy group: β = 0.190, t = 5.149, p < 0.001, 95% CI = [0.118,0.263]); at the high school level, in the case of either high or low green self-efficacy future self-continuity did not significantly predict pro-environmental behavior in either the high or low green self-efficacy (Low green self-efficacy group: β =-0.036, t =-0.817, p > 0.05, 95% CI = [-0.121,0.050]; High green self-efficacy group: β = 0.067, t = 1.622, p > 0.05, 95% CI = [-0.014,0.149]);

To further demonstrate the moderating role of green self-efficacy, the present study was analyzed using the Johnson-Neyman method [61]. It was found (as shown in Fig. 4) that at the middle school level when green self-efficacy was higher than − 1.012, the 95% CI of the simple slope did not include. The simple slope was significant, meaning that there was a substantial effect of future self-continuity on pro-environmental behaviors. When green self-efficacy was lower than − 1.012, the 95% CI of the simple slope included 0, and the effect was not significant. The moderating effect of green self-efficacy at the high school level was not present.

This study found that there is a negative correlation between Climate change anxiety and adolescents' pro-environmental behaviors, which future self-continuity and green self-efficacy plays a role as mediator. These findings provide a way to understand the underlying mechanism between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors, which will help us to alleviate adolescents' climate change anxiety and cultivate their pro-environmental behaviors.

The relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors has been controversial. The present study showed a significant negative correlation between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behavior, i.e., the more pronounced the climate change anxiety perceived by an individual, the less inclined they are to engage in pro-environmental behaviors. Consistent with the research results of representative samples from eight countries surveyed by Heeren et al. [23], participants with high levels of climate change anxiety exhibit less pro-environmental behavior. The research results indicate that excessive climate change anxiety may inhibit people from translating their concerns into practical actions [22], a phenomenon also known as ecological paralysis. Existing studies have also recognized that climate change anxiety impedes individuals to respond through creating a defense mechanism that causes a sense of indifference and denial, thus decreasing individuals' engagement in pro-environmental behaviors in response to climate change [62]. In the Internet era, there is a lot of talk about "tipping points" and "temperature thresholds" in various media. While the real situation is although the climate is changing, when taking into account inflation and asset growth, the likelihood of dying from a weather disaster is declining, and, the economic losses from weather disasters are not increasing significantly. Young people's values have not yet been formed, when faced with threats posed by climate change, their anxiety is prone to amplify. Moreover, implementing behaviors depends not only on one's desire or intention but also on one's strategy to cope with the anxiety. The Theory of Planned Behavior suggests that three factors, namely behavioral attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, all have an impact on individuals engaging in pro-environmental behavior [63]. When adolescents have high levels of climate change anxiety, it can affect their cognitive control and executive function, and their intention to execute behavior is weak, so they are unwilling to engage in more pro-environmental behavior.

This study also found that future self-continuity was negatively correlated with climate anxiety and positively correlated with pro-environmental behaviors, i.e., the higher the level of climate change anxiety individuals experience, the more they focus on the present and less on the future self, so the less likely they are willing to engage in pro-environmental behaviors that benefit their offspring. Future self-continuity plays as a mediator in the relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors. This is consistent with the research findings of McCue et al., where adolescents who feel connected to their future selves imagine the future with greater plot richness and engage in pro-environmental behaviors that are beneficial for long-term development [38]. According to the theory of self-perception and self-determination [64, 65], individuals' perception of the self not only stays in the present moment, but also associates with their past and future, and individuals' behaviors influence their perception of the self. The stronger the sense of psychological connection between the present self and the past and future selves, the stronger the emotional response is experienced, and the more likely it is to motivate the individual to make more visionary behaviors in the present moment. As for climate change anxiety, individuals perceive it more strongly, they focus on their present self, think less about the future self, and have lower future self-continuity. Based on explanatory level theory [66], when individuals perceive that time is closer, individuals make more pro-environmental behaviors. A high continuity of the future self can make the individual perceive the time distance to be closer and the connection between the future self and the present self to be closer so that they recognize that the present behavior will benefit the near future and then tend to do more pro-environmental behaviors. Collectivism, family consciousness, Confucian ethics, and other concepts deeply penetrate into the self of Chinese people, prompting them to connect past, present, and future events as a whole in the temporal dimension, manifested as a "great self" that transcends the individual, believing that they are the continuation of ancestors and their fathers, believing that their descendants are the continuation of themselves, and thus completing the continuation of themselves. Therefore, these concepts of self continuation become the root of their personality[21, 67]. The greater their continuity in the time dimension, and the more willing they are to engage in pro-environmental behaviors to change the ecological damage caused by climate change for the benefit of their children and grandchildren.

In addition to the role of future self-continuity, green self-efficacy also plays as a moderator between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors. When individuals are in high green self-efficacy, future self-continuity has a significant effect on pro-environmental behaviors, and the higher the future self-continuity, the more pro-environmental behaviors. As they perceive themselves as green practitioners, they are more inclined to implement environmental behaviors. In this study, in the low green self-efficacy group, future self-continuity did not significantly predict pro-environmental behaviors. This suggests that individuals with low green self-efficacy, i.e., weak motivation to pursue self-consistency, are not sufficiently motivated to choose behaviors that are more beneficial to the development of society, and even if there is a psychological connection between the present and future selves, they cannot be effectively motivated to engage in more pro-environmental behaviors for they are too weak. This result also basically confirms previous research that green self-efficacy can have an impact on pro environmental behavior, so improving individual green self-efficacy can indirectly promote the implementation of pro-environmental behaviors [42–45].

Moreover, the moderating effect of green self-efficacy only appeared in the group of middle school students. This is consistent with Krettenauer's research findings, where the influence of different age groups on pro-environmental behavior is regulated and influenced by different factors [52]. According to social identity theory [68], group identity is an expression of an individual's subordination to a larger social unit. The rules of the group are internalized into the individual's code of conduct; the connotations of the group contribute to become part of the individual's self-concept; and the identity of the group members drives the individual's behavior. High school students' pro-environmental behaviors receive more influence from factors such as social and community environmental climate, and as individuals explore themselves more and more deeply, they consciously believe that they belong to the green environment. So green self-efficacy may not be the main factor leading to pro-environmental behaviors. Junior high school students, on the other hand, because of their young age, have not yet formed a stable social identity and have a strong sense of belonging, so their pro-environmental behaviors are more influenced by a higher sense of self-efficacy formed by affirmation and recognition, which motivates them to engage in more pro-environmental behaviors.

This study explains the mechanisms underlying the effects of climate change anxiety on pro-environmental behaviors. Concretely speaking, climate change anxiety affects pro-environmental behaviors by influencing future self-continuity, and finds that green self-efficacy moderates the relationship between future self-continuity and pro-environmental behaviors in a group of middle school students.

This study has some limitations. First, this study used a cross-sectional survey study from which the we could not draw causal conclusions. Second, the subjects in this study were all Chinese, and geographical and cultural differences were not considered. Some studies have shown that there are cross-cultural differences and limitations in the concept of future self-continuity. For example, the "I" in the Western definition of future self-continuity is the "small self" in Chinese culture. In contrast, the "I" in Chinese future self-continuity may be the "big self" that includes significant others. The difference in conceptualization may lead to differences in the interpretation of the underlying mechanisms between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors. Future research could be conducted in more social contexts.

Acknowledgements

In the process of collecting data, thanks Qinhong Kang, La Zhu, Lulu Guo, Gang Yang and Daixuan Wu for helping to organize the students. Also, thank you to all students for your participation.

Author contributions

ZQ and CB was responsible for conceptualization, data collection and analysis, manuscript writing. QW collected some data and performed the supervision. YD and QH contributed to review and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This study was supported by Key project of Sichuan Provincial Applied Psychology Research Center（CSXL-21101）.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki, and was approved by the Ethics Review Committee of Sichuan Normal University. lnformed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Consent of publication

Not applicable.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. The author affirms that human research participants provided informed consent for publication.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Hickman C, Marks E, Pihkala P, Clayton S, Lewandowski RE, Mayall EE, et al. Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: A global survey. The Lancet Planetary Health. 2021;5.1.(12):e863-e873. https:// doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3.
Romeo RD. The impact of stress on the structure of the adolescent brain: Implications for adolescent mental health. Brain Research. 2017;1654 Part B:185–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2016.03.021.
Sheth RU, Sung Sun Yim, Wu FL, Wang HH. Multiplex recording of cellular events over time on CRISPR biological tape. Science. 2017;358:1457–61. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao0958.
Schneiderman N, Ironson G, Siegel SD. Stress and health: Psychological, behavioral, and biological determinants. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. 2005;1:607–28. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.144141.
Berry HL, Bowen K, Kjellstrom T. Climate change and mental health: a causal pathways framework. International Journal of Public Health. 2010;55(2):123–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-009-0112-0.
Hayes K, Blashki G, Wiseman J, Burke S, Reifels L. Climate change and mental health: risks, impacts and priority actions. International Journal of Mental Health Systems. 2018;12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-018-0210-6.
Cianconi P, Betrò S, Grillo F, Hanife B, Janiri L. Climate shift and mental health adjustment. CNS Spectrums. 2021;26(1):5-6. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1092852920001261.
Akresh R. Climate Change, Conflict, and Children. The Future of Children. 2016;26(1):51–71. https://doi.org/10.1353/foc.2016.0003.
Whitmarsh L, Capstick S. Perceptions of climate change. Psychology and Climate Change. 2018;13–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813130-5.00002-3.
Panu P. Anxiety and the Ecological Crisis: An Analysis of Eco-Anxiety and Climate Anxiety. Sustainability. 2020;12:7836. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12197836.
Clayton S, Karazsia BT. Development and validation of a measure of climate change anxiety. Journal of Environmental Psychology. 2020;69:101434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101434.
Dean JG, Stain HJ. Mental health impact for adolescents living with prolonged drought. Australian Journal of Rural Health. 2010;18(1):32–7. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1584.2009.01107.x.
Fairbank JA., Putnam FW, Harris WW. Child traumatic stress: Prevalence, trends, risk, and impact. Handbook of PTSD: Science and practice. 2014. pp. 121-145.
Goldmann E, Galea S. Mental Health Consequences of Disasters. Annual Review of Public Health. 2014;35:169–83. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182435.
Hrabok M, Delorme A, Agyapong VIO. Threats to Mental Health and Well-Being Associated with Climate Change. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 2020;76:102295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102295.
Cianconi P, Betrò S, Grillo F, Hanife B, Janiri L. Climate shift and mental health adjustment. CNS Spectrums. 2021;26(1):5-6. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1092852920001261.
Stern PC. New Environmental Theories: Toward a Coherent Theory of Environmentally Significant Behavior. Journal of Social Issues. 2000;56(3):407–24. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00175.
Kollmuss A, Agyeman J. Mind the Gap: Why Do People Act Environmentally and What Are the Barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environmental Education Research. 2002;8:239–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620220145401.
Steg L, Vlek C. Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour: An integrative review and research agenda. Journal of Environmental Psychology. 2009;29(3):309–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.10.004.
Dijkstra EM, Goedhart MJ. Development and validation of the ACSI: measuring students' science attitudes, pro-environmental behaviour, climate change attitudes and knowledge. Environmental education research. 2012;18(6):733-749. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/13504622.2012.662213.
Tao, R, Zheng, R. Boundary conditions for haze-initiated protective behavior: the role of future self-continuity. Applied Psychology.,2023; (02), 162-170.
Albrecht G. Chronic Environmental Change: Emerging “Psychoterratic” Syndromes. International and Cultural Psychology. 2011;43–56.22. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9742-5_3
Heeren A, Mouguiama-Daouda C, McNally RJ. A network approach to climate change anxiety and its key related features. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 2022;102625. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102625.
Pahl S, Sheppard S, Boomsma C, Groves C. Perceptions of time in relation to climate change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change. 2014;5(3):375–88.24. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.272.
Gifford R, Scannell L, Kormos C, Smolova L, Biel A, Boncu S, et al. Temporal pessimism and spatial optimism in environmental assessments: An 18-nation study. Journal of Environmental Psychology. 2009;29(1):1–12. https://doi,org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.06.001.
Ersner-Hershfield H, Garton MT, Ballard K, Samanez-Larkin GR, Knutson B. Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow: Individual differences in future self-continuity account for saving. Judgment and Decision Making. 2009;4(4):280–6.26. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1930297500003855.
Lauren N, Smith LDG, Louis WR, Dean AJ. Promoting Spillover: How Past Behaviors Increase Environmental Intentions by Cueing Self-Perceptions. Environment and Behavior. 2017;51:235–58.
Bartels DM, Urminsky O. To Know and to Care: How Awareness and Valuation of the Future Jointly Shape Consumer Spending. Journal of Consumer Research. 2015;41(6):1469–85. https://doi.org/10.1086/680670.
Urminsky O. The Role of Psychological Connectedness to the Future Self in Decisions Over Time. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 2017;26(1):34–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721416668810.
Hershfield HE. Future self-continuity: how conceptions of the future self transform intertemporal choice. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2011;1235:30–43.30. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06201.x.
Adelman RM, Herrmann SD, Bodford JE, Barbour JE, Graudejus O, Okun MA, et al. Feeling Closer to the Future Self and Doing Better: Temporal Psychological Mechanisms Underlying Academic Performance. Journal of Personality. 2016;85(3):398–408. https://doi.org.10.1111/jopy.12248.
Zhang M, Aggarwal P. Looking ahead or looking back: Current evaluations and the effect of psychological connectedness to a temporal self. Journal of Consumer Psychology. 2015;25:512–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.01.002
Trope Y, Liberman N. Construal-level theory of psychological distance. Psychological Review. 2010;117:440–63. https:// doi.org/10.1037/a0018963.
Liberman N, Trope Y. Temporal construal theory of intertemporal judgment and decision. Time and choice: Economic and psychological perspectives on intertemporal choice. New York: Sage Publications. 2003.
Lee P-S, Sung Y-H, Wu C-C, Ho L-C, Chiou W-B. Using Episodic Future Thinking to Pre-Experience Climate Change Increases Pro-Environmental Behavior. Environment and Behavior. 2018;52(1):60–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916518790590.
Zaval L, Markowitz EM, Weber EU. How Will I Be Remembered? Conserving the Environment for the Sake of One’s Legacy. Psychological Science. 2015;26(2):231–6. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614561266.
Chishima Y, Wilson AE. Conversation with a future self: A letter-exchange exercise enhances student self-continuity, career planning, and academic thinking. Self and Identity. 2020;1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2020.1754283.
McCue R, McCormack T, McElnay J, Alto A, Feeney A. The future and me: Imagining the future and the future self in adolescent decision making. Cognitive Development. 2019;50:142–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2019.04.001.
Higginbotham N, Connor LH, Baker F. Subregional differences in Australian climate risk perceptions: coastal versus agricultural areas of the Hunter Valley, NSW. Regional Environmental Change. 2013;14:699–712. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-013-0529-0.
Mughal MF, Cai SL, Faraz NA, Ahmed F. Environmentally Specific Servant Leadership and Employees’ Pro-Environmental Behavior: Mediating Role of Green Self Efficacy. Psychology Research and Behavior Management. 2022;Volume 15:305–16. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S328776.
Lin H-Y, Hsu M-H. Using Social Cognitive Theory to Investigate Green Consumer Behavior. Business Strategy and the Environment. 2013;24:326–43. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1820.
Huang H. Media use, environmental beliefs, self-efficacy, and pro-environmental behavior. Journal of Business Research. 2016;69(6):2206–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.031.
Chen Y-S, Chang C-H, Yeh S-L, Cheng H-I. Green shared vision and green creativity: the mediation roles of green mindfulness and green self-efficacy. Quality & Quantity. 2014;49(3):1169–84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-014-0041-8.
Chen Y-S, Chang C-H, Lin Y-H. Green Transformational Leadership and Green Performance: The Mediation Effects of Green Mindfulness and Green Self-Efficacy. Sustainability. 2014;6(10):6604–21. https://doi.org/10.3390/su6106604.
Sharma N, Dayal R. Drivers of Green Purchase Intentions: Green Self-Efficacy and Perceived Consumer Effectiveness. Global Journal of Enterprise Information System. 2017;8(3):27-32. https://doi.org/10.18311/gjeis/2016/15740.
Faraz NA, Ahmed F, Ying M, Mehmood SA. The interplay of green servant leadership, self‐efficacy, and intrinsic motivation in predicting employees’ pro‐environmental behavior. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. 2021;28(24):1171-84. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2115.
Kurisu KH, Bortoleto AP. Comparison of waste prevention behaviors among three Japanese megacity regions in the context of local measures and socio-demographics. Waste Management. 2011;31(7):1441–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2011.03.008.
Lee NC, de Groot RHM, Boschloo A, Dekker S, Krabbendam L, Jolles J. Age and educational track influence adolescent discounting of delayed rewards. Frontiers in Psychology. 2013;4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00993.
Whitmarsh L. Behavioural responses to climate change: Asymmetry of intentions and impacts. Journal of Environmental Psychology. 2009;29(1):13–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.05.003.
Liere KDV, Dunlap RE. The Social Bases of Environmental Concern: A Review of Hypotheses, Explanations and Empirical Evidence. Public Opinion Quarterly. 1980;44:181. https://doi.org/10.1086/268583.
Arcury TA, Christianson EH. Environmental Worldview in Response to Environmental Problems: Kentucky 1984 and 1988 Compared. Environment and Behavior.1990; 22(3):387–407. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916590223004.
Krettenauer T. Pro-Environmental Behavior and Adolescent Moral Development. Journal of Research on Adolescence. 2017;27(3):581–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12300.
Casey BJ, Cannonier T, Conley MI, Cohen AO, Barch DM, Heitzeg MM, et al. The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study: Imaging acquisition across 21 sites. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 2018;32:43–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2018.03.001.
Auchter AM, Hernandez Mejia M, Heyser CJ, Shilling PD, Jernigan TL, Brown SA, et al. A description of the ABCD organizational structure and communication framework. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 2018;32:8–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2018.04.003.
Gee DG, Bath KG, Johnson CM, Meyer HC, Murty VP, Bos W van den, et al. Neurocognitive Development of Motivated Behavior: Dynamic Changes across Childhood and Adolescence. Journal of Neuroscience. 2018;38(44):9433–45. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1674-18.2018.
Clayton S, Karazsia BT. Development and validation of a measure of climate change anxiety. Journal of Environmental Psychology. 2020;69:101434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101434.
Kaiser FG, Oerke B, Bogner FX. Behavior-based environmental attitude: Development of an instrument for adolescents. Journal of Environmental Psychology. 2007;27(3):242–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2007.06.004.
Sokol Y, Serper M. Development and Validation of a Future Self-Continuity Questionnaire: A Preliminary Report. Journal of Personality Assessment. 58.2020;102(5):677-688. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2019.1611588.
Du JG, Duan SL. The impact of environmental responsibility on consumers' green purchasing behavior: The cascading multi-mediating effects of green self-efficacy and green perceived value. Journal of Nanjing University of Technology (Social Sciences Edition). 2022;21( 3) : 48－60.
Hayes A. Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: a regression-based approach. new york, NY: The guilford press. Journal of Educational Measurement. 2013;51(3):335–7. https://doi.org/10.1111/jedm.12050.
Miller JW, Stromeyer WR, Schwieterman MA. Extensions of the Johnson-Neyman Technique to Linear Models With Curvilinear Effects: Derivations and Analytical Tools. Multivariate Behavioral Research. 2013;48:267–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/00273171.2013.763567.
Innocenti M, Santarelli G, Lombardi GS, Ciabini L, Zjalic D, Di Russo M, et al. How Can Climate Change Anxiety Induce Both Pro-Environmental Behaviours and Eco-Paralysis? The Mediating Role of General Self-Efficacy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2023;20(4):3085. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043085.
van Valkengoed AM, Abrahamse W, Steg L. To select effective interventions for pro-environmental behaviour change, we need to consider determinants of behaviour. Nature Human Behaviour. 2022;6(11):1482-1492. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01473-w.
Deci EL, Ryan RM. Motivation, Personality, and Development Within Embedded Social Contexts: An Overview of Self-Determination Theory. The Oxford Handbook of Human Motivation. 2012;84–108. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195399820.013.0006.
Bem DJ. Self-perception theory. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. 1972; 6. pp. 1-62.
Trope Y, Liberman N. Temporal construal. Psychological Review. 2003;110:403–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.110.3.403.
Ji L-J, Imtiaz F, Su Y, Zhang Z, Bowie AC, Chang B. Culture, Aging, Self-Continuity, and Life Satisfaction. Journal of Happiness Studies. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00568-5.
Tajfel H, Turner JC. The social identity theory of intergroup behaviour. Psychology of Intergroup Relations.1986;13(3):7-24.

No competing interests reported.

Download PDF

Journal Publication

published 27 Apr, 2024

Read the published version in BMC Psychology →

Editorial decision: Revision requested
04 Mar, 2024
Reviews received at journal
26 Feb, 2024
Reviewers agreed at journal
14 Feb, 2024
Reviewers invited by journal
12 Feb, 2024
Editor invited by journal
12 Feb, 2024
Editor assigned by journal
12 Feb, 2024
Submission checks completed at journal
12 Feb, 2024
First submitted to journal
05 Feb, 2024

You are reading this latest preprint version

The relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behavior in adolescents: the mediating role of future self-continuity and the moderating role of green self-efficacy

Status:

Journal Publication

Version 1

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Figures

Introduction

Relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors

The mediating role of future self-continuity

The moderating role of green self-efficacy

Effect of age

Purpose of the study

Methods

Participants and procedures

Measures

Data analysis

Control variables and Covariance

Results

Common method bias test

Mean, standard deviation, and correlation coefficient of each variable

Mediating effects of future self-continuity

Moderated mediation model test

Discussion

Conclusions and limitations

Declarations

References

Additional Declarations

Status:

Journal Publication

Version 1