1. Home
  2. Browse
  3. Coping with Climate Anxiety: Self-…
Preprint

Coping with Climate Anxiety: Self-efficacy is a Potential Factor in Preventing Negative Effects on Mental Wellbeing

This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [What does this mean?].

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Hanss, Daniel
Doran, Rouven
Böhm, Gisela
Ogunbode, Charles A.
Flohr, Janine I.

Abstract / Description

Facets of climate change related distress have been shown to be negatively associated with mental wellbeing, fueling discourses on their potential clinical significance. We assume that efficacy beliefs – a person’s confidence in being able to help mitigate climate change, individually or as part of a collective – serve as a protective factor against negative effects on mental wellbeing that may arise from climate change related distress. In this preregistered cross-sectional study, we put this assumption to an initial test. We used a sample of n = 889 citizens in Germany, roughly representative of the general population, and focused on climate anxiety as a facet of climate change related distress. We hypothesized that climate anxiety would be negatively correlated with mental wellbeing and that efficacy beliefs would mediate this relationship, showing positive associations with climate anxiety and with mental wellbeing – indicating a suppression effect. Correlation and regression analyses, in which we controlled for participants’ age, gender, socioeconomic status and prior climate change activism, supported these hypotheses. Future research should use longitudinal designs to further explore the assumed role of efficacy beliefs in coping with climate anxiety and preventing negative effects on mental wellbeing.

Keyword(s)

climate change anxiety self-efficacy coping motivated control mental wellbeing

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2026-06-25

Publisher

PsychArchives

Citation

Download BibTex
Download as Text
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Hanss, Daniel
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Doran, Rouven
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Böhm, Gisela
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Ogunbode, Charles A.
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Flohr, Janine I.
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2026-06-25T06:47:04Z
  • Made available on
    2026-06-25T06:47:04Z
  • Date of first publication
    2026-06-25
  • Abstract / Description
    Facets of climate change related distress have been shown to be negatively associated with mental wellbeing, fueling discourses on their potential clinical significance. We assume that efficacy beliefs – a person’s confidence in being able to help mitigate climate change, individually or as part of a collective – serve as a protective factor against negative effects on mental wellbeing that may arise from climate change related distress. In this preregistered cross-sectional study, we put this assumption to an initial test. We used a sample of n = 889 citizens in Germany, roughly representative of the general population, and focused on climate anxiety as a facet of climate change related distress. We hypothesized that climate anxiety would be negatively correlated with mental wellbeing and that efficacy beliefs would mediate this relationship, showing positive associations with climate anxiety and with mental wellbeing – indicating a suppression effect. Correlation and regression analyses, in which we controlled for participants’ age, gender, socioeconomic status and prior climate change activism, supported these hypotheses. Future research should use longitudinal designs to further explore the assumed role of efficacy beliefs in coping with climate anxiety and preventing negative effects on mental wellbeing.
    en
  • Publication status
    other
  • Review status
    notReviewed
  • Sponsorship
    Data collection of this study was funded by PsychLab, a service of the Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID).
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/17586
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.22228
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychArchives
  • Is based on
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.5612
  • Is related to
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.12594
  • Is related to
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.12595
  • Is related to
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.22211
  • Is related to
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.5612
  • Keyword(s)
    climate change
  • Keyword(s)
    anxiety
  • Keyword(s)
    self-efficacy
  • Keyword(s)
    coping
  • Keyword(s)
    motivated control
  • Keyword(s)
    mental wellbeing
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Coping with Climate Anxiety: Self-efficacy is a Potential Factor in Preventing Negative Effects on Mental Wellbeing
    en
  • DRO type
    preprint
  • Leibniz subject classification
    Psychologie
  • Visible tag(s)
    PsychLab