IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i8p3187-d1373523.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Eco-Anxiety and Trust in Science in Spain: Two Paths to Connect Climate Change Perceptions and General Willingness for Environmental Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • María Luisa Vecina

    (Psychology Faculty, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Campus de Somosaguas, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain)

  • María Alonso-Ferres

    (Psychology Faculty, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Campus de Somosaguas, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain)

  • Laura López-García

    (Psychology Department, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Campus de Alcorcón, 28922 Madrid, Spain)

  • Cintia Díaz-Silveira

    (Psychology Department, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Campus de Alcorcón, 28922 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

This article aims to better understand the mechanisms that connect climate change perceptions and general willingness to engage in pro-environmental behavior using Spanish cross-sectional data (N = 403) that included 102 members of environmental organizations. To do this, we first developed and validated the General Willingness for Environmental Behavior Scale (GWEBS), which includes the classical approach of voluntarily doing new actions but also actions implying not doing things (degrowth) and actions forced by social constraints. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit for the one-factor structure, which had adequate validity based on their relationship with other variables. Additionally, the GWEBS distinguished between women and men, left- and right-oriented people, and people who belonged to pro-environmental groups and people who did not. In the second place, we tested the parallel mediator role of eco-anxiety and trust in science in the relationship between climate change perceptions and the GWEBS. The results showed that eco-anxiety fully mediated and trust in science partially mediated such a relationship, making them crucial in terms of mobilizing the intention to act according to perceptions. This study contributes to understanding the psychological mechanisms that eventually drive pro-environmental behaviors and provides a clear direction for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • María Luisa Vecina & María Alonso-Ferres & Laura López-García & Cintia Díaz-Silveira, 2024. "Eco-Anxiety and Trust in Science in Spain: Two Paths to Connect Climate Change Perceptions and General Willingness for Environmental Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-17, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:8:p:3187-:d:1373523
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3187/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3187/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ariel Malka & Jon A. Krosnick & Gary Langer, 2009. "The Association of Knowledge with Concern About Global Warming: Trusted Information Sources Shape Public Thinking," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 633-647, May.
    2. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/61ih2qtadc8g1894enmudd2f09 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Lawrence C. Hamilton & Joel Hartter & Kei Saito, 2015. "Trust in Scientists on Climate Change and Vaccines," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(3), pages 21582440156, August.
    4. Babutsidze, Zakaria & Chai, Andreas, 2018. "Look at me Saving the Planet! The Imitation of Visible Green Behavior and its Impact on the Climate Value-Action Gap," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 290-303.
    5. Alexa Spence & Wouter Poortinga & Nick Pidgeon, 2012. "The Psychological Distance of Climate Change," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(6), pages 957-972, June.
    6. Adrian Brügger & Suraje Dessai & Patrick Devine-Wright & Thomas A. Morton & Nicholas F. Pidgeon, 2015. "Psychological responses to the proximity of climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(12), pages 1031-1037, December.
    7. Alexandre Heeren & Camille Mouguiama-Daouda & Alba Contreras, 2022. "On climate anxiety and the threat it may pose to daily life functioning and adaptation: a study among European and African French-speaking participants," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 1-17, July.
    8. Simon Cadez & Albert Czerny & Peter Letmathe, 2019. "Stakeholder pressures and corporate climate change mitigation strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 1-14, January.
    9. Sander Linden & Anthony Leiserowitz & Geoffrey Feinberg & Edward Maibach, 2014. "How to communicate the scientific consensus on climate change: plain facts, pie charts or metaphors?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 126(1), pages 255-262, September.
    10. Justine Lacey & Mark Howden & Christopher Cvitanovic & R. M. Colvin, 2018. "Understanding and managing trust at the climate science–policy interface," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 22-28, January.
    11. Linda Steg, 2018. "Limiting climate change requires research on climate action," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(9), pages 759-761, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Hayam Elshirbiny & Wokje Abrahamse, 2020. "Public risk perception of climate change in Egypt: a mixed methods study of predictors and implications," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 10(3), pages 242-254, September.
    2. Lorteau, Steve & Muzzerall, Parker & Deneault, Audrey-Ann & Kennedy, Emily Huddart & Rocque, Rhéa & Racine, Nicole & Bureau, Jean-François, 2024. "Do climate concerns and worries predict energy preferences? A meta-analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    3. Paul M. Lohmann & Andreas Kontoleon, 2023. "Do Flood and Heatwave Experiences Shape Climate Opinion? Causal Evidence from Flooding and Heatwaves in England and Wales," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 86(1), pages 263-304, October.
    4. József Kádár & Martina Pilloni & Tareq Abu Hamed, 2023. "A Survey of Renewable Energy, Climate Change, and Policy Awareness in Israel: The Long Path for Citizen Participation in the National Renewable Energy Transition," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-16, February.
    5. Christel W. van Eck & Bob C. Mulder & Sander van der Linden, 2020. "Climate Change Risk Perceptions of Audiences in the Climate Change Blogosphere," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Michael R. Greenberg & Marc D. Weiner & Robert Noland & Jeanne Herb & Marjorie Kaplan & Anthony J. Broccoli, 2014. "Public Support for Policies to Reduce Risk After Hurricane Sandy," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(6), pages 997-1012, June.
    7. Gabriele Prati & Iana Tzankova & Cinzia Albanesi & Elvira Cicognani, 2022. "Longitudinal Predictors of Perceived Climate Change Importance and Worry among Italian Youths: A Machine Learning Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-19, November.
    8. Trisha R. Shrum, 2021. "The salience of future impacts and the willingness to pay for climate change mitigation: an experiment in intergenerational framing," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Lawrence C. Hamilton, 2016. "Public Awareness of the Scientific Consensus on Climate," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(4), pages 21582440166, November.
    10. Nicole Betz & John D. Coley, 2022. "Human Exceptionalist Thinking about Climate Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-28, August.
    11. Roberta Weiner & Sarah P. Church & Junyu Lu & Laura A. Esman & Jackie M. Getson & Michelle Fleckenstein & Brennan Radulski & Pranay Ranjan & Emily Usher & Linda S. Prokopy & Linda Pfeiffer, 2021. "Climate change coverage in the United States media during the 2017 hurricane season: implications for climate change communication," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 1-19, February.
    12. Raya Muttarak & Thanyaporn Chankrajang, 2015. "Who is concerned about and takes action on climate change? Gender and education divides among Thais," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 13(1), pages 193-220.
    13. Mary Guillard & Ghozlane Fleury-Bahi & Oscar Navarro, 2021. "Encouraging Individuals to Adapt to Climate Change: Relations between Coping Strategies and Psychological Distance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-15, January.
    14. Anne K. Armstrong & Marianne E. Krasny, 2020. "Tracing Paths from Research to Practice in Climate Change Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-21, June.
    15. Zijian Harrison Gong & Haoran Chu, 2022. "Seeing Risks or Solutions: Psychological Distance and Ecological Worldview Moderated the Effect of Disgust Images on Attention to Environmental Messages," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, June.
    16. David V. Boivin & Olivier Boiral, 2022. "So Close, Yet So Far Away: Exploring the Role of Psychological Distance from Climate Change on Corporate Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-19, September.
    17. Mohamed Didi Alaoui & Véronique Cova, 2021. "La distance psychologique comme outil actionnable par les managers," Post-Print hal-03126709, HAL.
    18. Emőke Kiss & Dániel Balla & András Donát Kovács, 2022. "Characteristics of Climate Concern—Attitudes and Personal Actions—A Case Study of Hungarian Settlements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-22, April.
    19. Jonathon P. Schuldt & Danielle L. Eiseman & Michael P. Hoffmann, 2020. "Public concern about climate change impacts on food choices: The interplay of knowledge and politics," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 885-893, September.
    20. Ran Duan & Christian Bombara, 2022. "Visualizing climate change: the role of construal level, emotional valence, and visual literacy," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 170(1), pages 1-22, January.

    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:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:8:p:3187-:d:1373523. 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.