3 SPRING 2024 NO.84 / THOUGHT LEADERSHIP BRIEF In sum, our findings from these two studies suggest that a significant minority of the Chinese public is experiencing climate change anxiety in terms of not only negative feelings but also impairments of their functioning. Association with Mental Health Outcomes We then explored whether climate change anxiety impairs people’s mental health. In Chan et al. (2023), we observed that respondents who felt more negatively about climate change also reported more intense symptoms of generalized anxiety and depression. In addition, respondents who reported more experience of impairments associated with climate change also experienced stronger generalized anxiety and depression symptoms. This pattern is in line with cross-sectional findings by other research teams obtained in other countries. It suggests that the experience of climate change anxiety is associated with indicators of poor mental health. We then looked for longitudinal evidence. Our study in China is still ongoing, but in a study conducted in the United States (Chan, Lin, Tam, & Hong, 2024), we measured climate change anxiety and mental outcomes in two waves. We observed a temporal sequence from anxiety-related negative feelings toward the problem of climate change, to cognitive-emotional impairments, and then to functional impairments. Additionally, there was a reciprocal association between negative feelings toward climate change and generalized anxiety. That is, while feeling anxious about climate change emotionally could make people experience more generalized anxiety symptoms over time, the experience of generalized anxiety might also predispose individuals to climate change anxiety. In all, our existing research evidence points to the possibility that experiencing climate change anxiety could harm Chinese people’s mental well-being. Who Are More Susceptible Last, we tried to understand what kinds of individuals in China are more susceptible to the experience of climate change anxiety. In the four-country study (Tam et al., 2023) mentioned above, we examined how climate change anxiety varied across different demographic sectors. We found that in China, impairments associated with climate change anxiety were stronger among male respondents, older respondents, and respondents with higher income; we did not observe any relationship with education levels, however. Interestingly, this pattern was not always observed in the other three countries, suggestive of the need to consider the idiosyncratic circumstances facing the Chinese population. For instance, climate change anxiety-related impairments were more prevalent among younger (rather than older) respondents in India and the United States, and the relationship between impairments and income was negligible in all three other countries. We explored the role of psychological factors on climate change anxiety in Chan et al. (2023). We found that direct, personal experience of the various climate-related hazards (e.g., flooding, heat waves, extreme precipitation) was associated with higher levels of negative feelings toward climate change and impairments of functioning. Furthermore, we observed that respondents reported higher levels of climate change anxiety if they perceived climate change to be a realistic threat (e.g., threat to personal health, threat to financial safety) and a symbolic threat (e.g., threat to local values and tradition). There was also a consistently positive association between egoistic values and climate change anxiety; that is, respondents who emphasized personal achievement and wealth were more likely to experience climate change anxiety. In the same study, we also found that respondents who held a stronger belief in the capacity of the collective efforts by people in the country to fight climate change reported lower levels of climate change anxiety; this observation hints at a potentially effective strategy to reduce anxiety associated with climate change.
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