Determinants of climate anxiety and willingness for climate-friendly behavioral change in German students: a quantitative study

BACKGROUND: Young people are increasingly concerned about climate change, which can negatively affect their mental health. Course content about the health consequences of climate change, as taught to students of health-related subjects, is associated with increased climate anxiety. Climate anxiety can be both an understandable reaction to a real crisis that leads to climate-friendly behavior and a functional impairment that undermines the ability to act. This study aims to identify risk and protective factors for functional impairment of students due to climate anxiety, as well as factors that promote students’ willingness for climate-friendly behavioral change. METHODS: Students of health-related subjects were surveyed using a quantitative online questionnaire. Age, gender, trait anxiety, personality, nature connectedness, climate-specific health literacy, and climate anxiety were recorded and analyzed using multiple linear regression analyses. RESULTS: Students’ climate anxiety was positively and significantly associated with neuroticism, trait anxiety, connectedness to nature, female gender, knowledge of the consequences of climate change, perceived relevance of climate change, and the belief that climate change poses a personal health risk. Climate anxiety, openness, and perceived action efficacy were significantly and positively associated with students’ willingness for climate-friendly behavioral change. Adding a quadratic term for climate anxiety indicated that the relationship between climate anxiety and willingness may not be linear. Rather, willingness initially increased and then decreased slightly with rising climate anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: As our results do not indicate any protective factors against impairment due to climate anxiety, further research on this topic is advised. Future studies should give special consideration to young female students, with pronounced anxiety, neuroticism, and nature connectedness, as a potential risk group. The nature and direction of the relationship between climate anxiety and the willingness for climate-friendly behavioral change should be investigated further to determine the extent to which climate anxiety motivates or paralyzes more precisely.