Disentangling climate worry and psychological distress: data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study

Summary

Anxiety and worry about climate change have been associated with poorer mental health. We examined whether different climate beliefs, the cognitive component of climate anxiety, were associated with symptoms of psychological distress. We also tested whether political efficacy moderated the potential associations between climate beliefs and psychological distress, as perceptions of inadequate government response may amplify climate anxiety. We applied longitudinal data and cross-lagged panel network models in the UK Household Longitudinal Study (N = 34,318). Our results showed that (1) the association between climate beliefs and psychological distress was bidirectional, (2) belief in responsibility was most clearly associated with increased distress while associations between belief in inevitability and the distress symptoms were more mixed, and (3) those who perceived that individuals can affect political decisions seemed to be most vulnerable to the negative effects of the climate crisis on mental health.