{"id":253362,"date":"2023-04-17T14:52:29","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T12:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=253362"},"modified":"2023-04-17T14:52:32","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T12:52:32","slug":"environmental-knowledge-is-inversely-associated-with-climate-change-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=253362","title":{"rendered":"Environmental knowledge is inversely associated with climate change anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hannes Zacher<\/a> & Cort W. Rudolph<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climatic Change<\/em><\/a> volume 176<\/strong>, Article number: 32 (2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Abstract<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This study tests the hypotheses that overall environmental knowledge and climate-specific knowledge are inversely related to climate change anxiety, such that people who know more (less) about the environment in general, and about climate in particular, are less (more) anxious about climate change. Time lagged data were collected from\u00a0N<\/em>\u2009=\u20092,066 individuals in Germany. Results showed that, even after controlling for demographic characteristics, personality characteristics, and environmental attitudes, overall environmental knowledge and climate-specific knowledge were negatively related to climate change anxiety (both\u00a0B<\/em>\u2009=\u2009-.09,\u00a0p<\/em>\u2009<\u2009.001).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1 Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The British mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872\u20131970) is quoted as saying, \u201cThe degree of one\u2019s emotions varies inversely with one\u2019s knowledge of the facts, the less you know the hotter you get.\u201d Consistent with this idea, we report the results of a study that tested the hypotheses that overall environmental knowledge and climate-specific knowledge are negatively related to climate change anxiety. The rationale for investigating these relationships is that climate change anxiety may be reduced through interventions that enhance environmental knowledge. Environmental knowledge<\/em> refers to the body of acquired facts and learned expertise in the environmental domain (including climate; Geiger et al. 2019<\/a>). Climate change anxiety<\/em> involves people\u2019s self-reported negative emotional responses associated with their awareness of climate change (Clayton 2020<\/a>). Accordingly, the measure used in this study assesses responses such as worrying and distress, reduced well-being, as well as concentration and sleep difficulties due to people\u2019s thoughts about climate change (Clayton and Karazsia 2020<\/a>). Compared to more constructive forms of worrying about global warming that result in adaptive responses (e.g., Verplanken et al. 2020<\/a>), it seems desirable to reduce climate change anxiety because it has been shown to have detrimental consequences for people\u2019s general health and well-being, including higher levels of depression, anxiety, and distress (Schwartz et al. 2022<\/a>; Searle and Gow 2010<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychological theorizing suggests that a lack of knowledge about a topic leads to greater feelings of uncertainty which, in turn, may result in anxiety associated with the topic, whereas greater available knowledge about a topic is likely to reduce experiences of topic-associated uncertainty and anxiety (Hirsh et al. 2012<\/a>; Jungermann and Th\u00fcring 1993<\/a>). Indeed, empirical studies conducted on various topics (e.g., aging, interpersonal and intergroup relations, finances, entrepreneurship) suggest that knowledge about a topic is negatively related to uncertainty and anxiety (Nuevo et al. 2009<\/a>; Stephan et al. 1999<\/a>; Townsend et al. 2018<\/a>; Wang et al. 2011<\/a>). For example, a meta-analysis showed that knowledge about one\u2019s own and others\u2019 emotions is inversely related to social anxiety (O\u2019Toole et al. 2013<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several motivational predictors of pro-environmental behavior, such as environmental awareness, attitudes, values, and identity, are positively related to climate change anxiety (e.g., Verplanken et al. 2020<\/a>). So far, however, no research on the association between environmental knowledge and climate change anxiety exists (Coffey et al. 2021<\/a>; Whitmarsh et al. 2022<\/a>). An exception is a qualitative case study on environmental knowledge and various emotions experienced by activists (e.g., fear, hope; Martiskainen et al. 2020<\/a>). The descriptive evidence presented in this study suggests that both a positive and a negative relationships may be possible: \u201cFrontline protesters were really concerned about climate change\u2026 They were often the most knowledgeable about climate change \u2026\u201d (p. 14). In contrast, the researchers also observed that \u201cIn terms of cognitive knowledge, a surprising number of our strikers were not very aware about climate change; with some even stated that they had no knowledge and were merely striking to impress others (such as a romantic partner) or to give a friend company\u201d (p. 16). Another study showed that knowledge about the causes of climate change and its potential health consequences positively predicted cognitive and affective risk judgments (Sundblad et al. 2007<\/a>). However, the risk judgment measures used in this study differ from the more personal and emotional construct of climate change anxiety, in that participants were asked to estimate the probability of, and their worries about, serious negative consequences of climate change in three specific countries (i.e., Sweden, the Netherlands, Bangladesh) for three different time horizons (i.e., 5, 50, 100 years).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summary, drawing on psychological theorizing and research on associations among knowledge, uncertainty, and anxiety, we hypothesize that people with greater overall environmental knowledge and climate-specific knowledge experience generally less climate change anxiety. In contrast, people with less overall environmental knowledge and climate-specific knowledge should be more likely to experience higher climate change anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n