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Examining the relationship between climate concern, climate anxiety and climate action in the UK

Emily Wolstenholme, Kat Steentjes Orcid Logo, Christina Demski, Wouter Poortinga

BMC Psychology, Volume: 14, Issue: 1, Start page: 731

Swansea University Author: Kat Steentjes Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1186/s40359-026-04170-9

Abstract

The effects of climate change are being felt globally, resulting in increased extreme weather events and mental health challenges. Climate change concern and anxiety are widespread, especially among young people. Currently, little is known about how these responses to climate change may interact wit...

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Published in: BMC Psychology
ISSN: 2050-7283
Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71939
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spelling 2026-05-18T16:25:57.6977885 v2 71939 2026-05-18 Examining the relationship between climate concern, climate anxiety and climate action in the UK 54f70b9380022eddcd67398acdca418b 0000-0002-8661-8287 Kat Steentjes Kat Steentjes true false 2026-05-18 PSYS The effects of climate change are being felt globally, resulting in increased extreme weather events and mental health challenges. Climate change concern and anxiety are widespread, especially among young people. Currently, little is known about how these responses to climate change may interact with each other to motivate or hinder different types of environmental action. This paper addresses this gap using two nationally representative surveys conducted in 2022 and 2023 in the UK (ntotal = 2,087). The results show that individuals concerned about climate change were significantly more likely to have climate anxiety and that climate anxiety is subsequently significantly associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in pro-environmental action, including private-sphere behaviours (individual actions relating to diet, transport, household energy, travel, and material consumption) and climate activism (collective actions, including supporting protests and community initiatives). When controlling for the effect of climate anxiety, climate concern was still associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in pro-environmental action, although the effect was smaller. These results suggest that climate anxiety partly explains the effects of climate concern and is an additional driver of climate action. Additionally, the results show that climate anxiety was higher among younger respondents, and that the likelihood of engaging in pro-environmental actions decreases as age increases. However, the effects of climate change concern and anxiety on climate action were consistent across respondents of different ages, with no moderating effects of age. Other factors may be responsible for decreased climate engagement among older age groups demonstrated in past literature. Journal Article BMC Psychology 14 1 731 Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2050-7283 Climate concern; Climate anxiety; Climate action; Climate activism; Generational differences 18 5 2026 2026-05-18 10.1186/s40359-026-04170-9 COLLEGE NANME Psychology School COLLEGE CODE PSYS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee Economic and Social Research Council Grant (ES/S012257/1) 2026-05-18T16:25:57.6977885 2026-05-18T16:05:40.1646546 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences School of Psychology Emily Wolstenholme 1 Kat Steentjes 0000-0002-8661-8287 2 Christina Demski 3 Wouter Poortinga 4 71939__36786__a65be91c73ca42b19591359687090a6e.pdf 71939.VoR.pdf 2026-05-18T16:21:49.3535799 Output 1559943 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Examining the relationship between climate concern, climate anxiety and climate action in the UK
spellingShingle Examining the relationship between climate concern, climate anxiety and climate action in the UK
Kat Steentjes
title_short Examining the relationship between climate concern, climate anxiety and climate action in the UK
title_full Examining the relationship between climate concern, climate anxiety and climate action in the UK
title_fullStr Examining the relationship between climate concern, climate anxiety and climate action in the UK
title_full_unstemmed Examining the relationship between climate concern, climate anxiety and climate action in the UK
title_sort Examining the relationship between climate concern, climate anxiety and climate action in the UK
author_id_str_mv 54f70b9380022eddcd67398acdca418b
author_id_fullname_str_mv 54f70b9380022eddcd67398acdca418b_***_Kat Steentjes
author Kat Steentjes
author2 Emily Wolstenholme
Kat Steentjes
Christina Demski
Wouter Poortinga
format Journal article
container_title BMC Psychology
container_volume 14
container_issue 1
container_start_page 731
publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
issn 2050-7283
doi_str_mv 10.1186/s40359-026-04170-9
publisher Springer Science and Business Media LLC
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str School of Psychology{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Psychology
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description The effects of climate change are being felt globally, resulting in increased extreme weather events and mental health challenges. Climate change concern and anxiety are widespread, especially among young people. Currently, little is known about how these responses to climate change may interact with each other to motivate or hinder different types of environmental action. This paper addresses this gap using two nationally representative surveys conducted in 2022 and 2023 in the UK (ntotal = 2,087). The results show that individuals concerned about climate change were significantly more likely to have climate anxiety and that climate anxiety is subsequently significantly associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in pro-environmental action, including private-sphere behaviours (individual actions relating to diet, transport, household energy, travel, and material consumption) and climate activism (collective actions, including supporting protests and community initiatives). When controlling for the effect of climate anxiety, climate concern was still associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in pro-environmental action, although the effect was smaller. These results suggest that climate anxiety partly explains the effects of climate concern and is an additional driver of climate action. Additionally, the results show that climate anxiety was higher among younger respondents, and that the likelihood of engaging in pro-environmental actions decreases as age increases. However, the effects of climate change concern and anxiety on climate action were consistent across respondents of different ages, with no moderating effects of age. Other factors may be responsible for decreased climate engagement among older age groups demonstrated in past literature.
published_date 2026-05-18T17:20:49Z
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