IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i22p14991-d972503.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Climate Anxiety, Loneliness and Perceived Social Isolation

Author

Listed:
  • André Hajek

    (Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, 20246 Hamburg, Germany)

  • Hans-Helmut König

    (Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, 20246 Hamburg, Germany)

Abstract

Aim: The goal of this study was to investigate the association of climate anxiety with loneliness and perceived social isolation (also stratified by age group). Methods: Data were taken from the general adult population aged 18 to 74 years (n = 3091). Data collection took place in March 2022. Climate anxiety was measured using the Climate Anxiety Scale. The De Jong Gierveld tool was used to quantify loneliness and the Bude and Lantermann tool was used to assess perceived social isolation. Results: Multiple linear regressions revealed an association between higher climate anxiety and higher loneliness (β = 0.06, p < 0.001) as well as higher perceived social isolation (β = 0.10, p < 0.001) among the total sample. A similar picture was identified in age-stratified regressions (i.e., among individuals aged 18 to 29 years, 30 to 49 years, and among individuals aged 50 to 64 years). However, climate anxiety was neither associated with loneliness nor with perceived social isolation among individuals aged 65 to 74 years. Conclusions: Our current study adds first evidence regarding the link between climate anxiety and loneliness as well as perceived social isolation and can serve as a basis for upcoming studies.

Suggested Citation

  • André Hajek & Hans-Helmut König, 2022. "Climate Anxiety, Loneliness and Perceived Social Isolation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-11, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:22:p:14991-:d:972503
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14991/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14991/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. André Hajek & Benedikt Kretzler & Hans-Helmut König, 2020. "Multimorbidity, Loneliness, and Social Isolation. A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-12, November.
    2. Margaret Penning & Guiping Liu & Pak Chou, 2014. "Measuring Loneliness Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: The UCLA and de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scales," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 118(3), pages 1147-1166, September.
    3. Marlis C. Wullenkord & Josephine Tröger & Karen R. S. Hamann & Laura S. Loy & Gerhard Reese, 2021. "Anxiety and climate change: a validation of the Climate Anxiety Scale in a German-speaking quota sample and an investigation of psychological correlates," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 1-23, October.
    4. Özgül Uysal-Bozkir & Tineke Fokkema & Janet L. MacNeil-Vroomen & Theo G. van Tilburg & Sophia E. de Rooij, 2017. "Translation and Validation of the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale Among Older Migrants Living in the Netherlands," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 72(1), pages 109-119.
    5. Brian P. Shaw, 2021. "Meeting assumptions in the estimation of reliability," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 21(4), pages 1021-1027, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. André Hajek & Hans-Helmut König, 2023. "Do Individuals with High Climate Anxiety Believe That They Will Die Earlier? First Evidence from Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-8, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. André Hajek & Hans-Helmut König, 2023. "Do Individuals with High Climate Anxiety Believe That They Will Die Earlier? First Evidence from Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-8, March.
    2. Marlies Maes & Pamela Qualter & Gerine M. A. Lodder & Marcus Mund, 2022. "How (Not) to Measure Loneliness: A Review of the Eight Most Commonly Used Scales," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-37, August.
    3. André Hajek & Benedikt Kretzler & Hans-Helmut König, 2020. "Multimorbidity, Loneliness, and Social Isolation. A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-12, November.
    4. Radha Yadav & Dharmendra Kumar & Anil Kumar & Sunil Luthra, 2023. "How does anticipatory trauma reaction and climate‐friendly behaviour make an affect at the individual level? The role of social norms and self‐efficacy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4028-4045, November.
    5. Hiromi Taniguchi & Gayle Kaufman, 2022. "Family, Collectivism, and Loneliness from a Cross-Country Perspective," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 1555-1581, June.
    6. Aivaras Vijaikis & Mykolas Simas Poškus, 2024. "Does Being an Environmental Citizen Lead to Greater Well-Being? The Self-Determination Theory Approach," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(3), pages 21582440241, August.
    7. Jose M. Tomás & Sacramento Pinazo-Hernandis & Mónica Donio-Bellegarde & Pedro M. Hontangas, 2017. "Validity of the de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale in Spanish older population: competitive structural models and item response theory," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 429-437, December.
    8. Hannes Zacher & Cort W. Rudolph, 2023. "Environmental knowledge is inversely associated with climate change anxiety," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(4), pages 1-9, April.
    9. Theo G. Tilburg & Tineke Fokkema, 2021. "Stronger feelings of loneliness among Moroccan and Turkish older adults in the Netherlands: in search for an explanation," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 311-322, September.
    10. Mary Ann Jarvis & Anita Padmanabhanunni & Jennifer Chipps, 2019. "An Evaluation of a Low-Intensity Cognitive Behavioral Therapy mHealth-Supported Intervention to Reduce Loneliness in Older People," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-14, April.
    11. d'Hombres, Beatrice & Barjaková, Martina & Schnepf, Sylke V., 2021. "Loneliness and Social Isolation: An Unequally Shared Burden in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 14245, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Juan Ribes & Jacinto González-Pachón, 2021. "Risk Attitude in Multicriteria Decision Analysis: A Compromise Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-14, June.
    13. André Hajek & Hans-Helmut König, 2021. "The Association between Oral Health-Related Quality of Life, Loneliness, Perceived and Objective Social Isolation—Results of a Nationally Representative Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-10, December.
    14. André Hajek & Benedikt Kretzler & Hans-Helmut König, 2021. "Informal Caregiving, Loneliness and Social Isolation: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-12, November.
    15. Md. Sazedur Rahman & Md. Ashfikur Rahman & Md. Saidur Rahman, 2019. "Prevalence and Determinants of Loneliness among Older Adults in Bangladesh," International Journal of Emerging Trends in Social Sciences, Scientific Publishing Institute, vol. 5(2), pages 57-64.
    16. Michael Mutz, 2024. "Society-related Fears and Personal Mental Health," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 19(5), pages 2895-2913, October.
    17. Ruth Mächler & Noemi Sturm & Eckhard Frick & Friederike Schalhorn & Regina Stolz & Jan Valentini & Johannes Krisam & Cornelia Straßner, 2022. "Evaluation of a Spiritual History with Elderly Multi-Morbid Patients in General Practice—A Mixed-Methods Study within the Project HoPES3," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-15, January.
    18. Teaghan L. Hogg & Samantha K. Stanley & Léan V. O’Brien, 2024. "Validation of the Hogg Climate Anxiety Scale," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(6), pages 1-17, June.
    19. Matteo Innocenti & Gabriele Santarelli & Gaia Surya Lombardi & Lorenzo Ciabini & Doris Zjalic & Mattia Di Russo & Chiara Cadeddu, 2023. "How Can Climate Change Anxiety Induce Both Pro-Environmental Behaviours and Eco-Paralysis? The Mediating Role of General Self-Efficacy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-10, February.
    20. Thijs van den Broek & Marco Tosi, 2020. "The More the Merrier? The Causal Effect of High Fertility on Later-Life Loneliness in Eastern Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 733-748, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:22:p:14991-:d:972503. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.