Eco-anxiety or simply eco-worry? Incremental validity study in a representative Spanish sample
Scientific literature is keen to promote the study of eco-anxiety despite its current low prevalence and inconsistent relationships with pro-environmental behavior and mental health. In this paper, we analyze in a representative sample of the Spanish population (N = 1911) the incremental validity of...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-04-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1560024/full |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849763534650474496 |
|---|---|
| author | María Luisa Vecina María Alonso-Ferres María Alonso-Ferres Cintia Díaz-Silveira |
| author_facet | María Luisa Vecina María Alonso-Ferres María Alonso-Ferres Cintia Díaz-Silveira |
| author_sort | María Luisa Vecina |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Scientific literature is keen to promote the study of eco-anxiety despite its current low prevalence and inconsistent relationships with pro-environmental behavior and mental health. In this paper, we analyze in a representative sample of the Spanish population (N = 1911) the incremental validity of the eco-worry construct concerning that of eco-anxiety at three levels of environmental commitment: high (environmental activists), medium (people who are not part of any environmental organization but who would like to), and low (people who neither belong to environmental groups nor want to). Our results showed that (1) the environmental activists in our sample did not seem to be eco-anxious but rather eco-worried, and (2) at the three levels of environmental commitment, eco-worry but not eco-anxiety positively mediated the relationship between climate change perception and general willingness for environmental behavior, and eco-worry, but not eco-anxiety, positively connected with life satisfaction through the general willingness to behave pro-environmentally. It is concluded that eco-anxiety does not add anything to the more intuitive and non-pathological concept of eco-worry, except for the alarm signal, which is not at all strategic when the goal is to promote individual pro-environmental behaviors and collective social actions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f4a29e5d80774af48c39f11b327e6972 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-f4a29e5d80774af48c39f11b327e69722025-08-20T03:05:22ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-04-011610.3389/fpsyg.2025.15600241560024Eco-anxiety or simply eco-worry? Incremental validity study in a representative Spanish sampleMaría Luisa Vecina0María Alonso-Ferres1María Alonso-Ferres2Cintia Díaz-Silveira3Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, SpainDepartment of Social Psychology, Universidad de Granada, Granada, SpainMind, Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada, SpainDepartment of Psychology, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, SpainScientific literature is keen to promote the study of eco-anxiety despite its current low prevalence and inconsistent relationships with pro-environmental behavior and mental health. In this paper, we analyze in a representative sample of the Spanish population (N = 1911) the incremental validity of the eco-worry construct concerning that of eco-anxiety at three levels of environmental commitment: high (environmental activists), medium (people who are not part of any environmental organization but who would like to), and low (people who neither belong to environmental groups nor want to). Our results showed that (1) the environmental activists in our sample did not seem to be eco-anxious but rather eco-worried, and (2) at the three levels of environmental commitment, eco-worry but not eco-anxiety positively mediated the relationship between climate change perception and general willingness for environmental behavior, and eco-worry, but not eco-anxiety, positively connected with life satisfaction through the general willingness to behave pro-environmentally. It is concluded that eco-anxiety does not add anything to the more intuitive and non-pathological concept of eco-worry, except for the alarm signal, which is not at all strategic when the goal is to promote individual pro-environmental behaviors and collective social actions.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1560024/fulleco-anxietyeco-worryclimate changeperceptionlife satisfaction |
| spellingShingle | María Luisa Vecina María Alonso-Ferres María Alonso-Ferres Cintia Díaz-Silveira Eco-anxiety or simply eco-worry? Incremental validity study in a representative Spanish sample Frontiers in Psychology eco-anxiety eco-worry climate change perception life satisfaction |
| title | Eco-anxiety or simply eco-worry? Incremental validity study in a representative Spanish sample |
| title_full | Eco-anxiety or simply eco-worry? Incremental validity study in a representative Spanish sample |
| title_fullStr | Eco-anxiety or simply eco-worry? Incremental validity study in a representative Spanish sample |
| title_full_unstemmed | Eco-anxiety or simply eco-worry? Incremental validity study in a representative Spanish sample |
| title_short | Eco-anxiety or simply eco-worry? Incremental validity study in a representative Spanish sample |
| title_sort | eco anxiety or simply eco worry incremental validity study in a representative spanish sample |
| topic | eco-anxiety eco-worry climate change perception life satisfaction |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1560024/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT marialuisavecina ecoanxietyorsimplyecoworryincrementalvaliditystudyinarepresentativespanishsample AT mariaalonsoferres ecoanxietyorsimplyecoworryincrementalvaliditystudyinarepresentativespanishsample AT mariaalonsoferres ecoanxietyorsimplyecoworryincrementalvaliditystudyinarepresentativespanishsample AT cintiadiazsilveira ecoanxietyorsimplyecoworryincrementalvaliditystudyinarepresentativespanishsample |