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Cited by 99Climate Change Communication and PerceptionEnvironmental Education and SustainabilityPsychological and Temporal Perspectives Research

The relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behavior in adolescents: the mediating role of future self-continuity and the moderating role of green self-efficacy

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Qin, Ziqi, Wu, Qi, Bi, Cuihua, Deng, Yanwei, Hu, Qiuyun·2024·BMC Psychology
DOI 10.1186/s40359-024-01746-1PMC PMC11056057

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Abstract

Background: Climate change is seriously affecting human survival and development, and the anxiety caused by it is becoming increasingly prominent. How to alleviate people’s climate change anxiety, improve the ecological environment, and promote the formation of green lifestyles among people, especially young people, is an important topic that deserves to be explored. This study examined the relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors and the underlying psychological mechanism in the adolescents. Methods: This study explored the crucial role of future self-continuity (FSC) between climate change anxiety (CCA) and pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) in adolescents and examined the moderating role of green self-efficacy (GSE). In this study, a total of 1,851 middle and high school students from five schools were selected for questionnaire survey. Results: The results showed that (1) in both middle and high school grades, there was a significant negative correlation between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors; future self-continuity was significantly positively correlated with pro-environmental behaviors; green self-efficacy was negatively correlated with climate change anxiety and positively correlated with pro-environmental behaviors; (2) climate change anxiety negatively predicted pro-environmental behaviors, and compared with middle school grades, high school grade adolescents’ climate change anxiety was significantly predicted pro-environmental behaviors. Future self-continuity mediated the relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors in both grades. (3) green self-efficacy moderated the second half of the pathway of the mediation model only in middle grades. Specifically in middle school, future self-continuity did not significantly predict pro-environmental behaviors at low green self-efficacy level, but positively predicted pro-environmental behaviors at high green self-efficacy level. In high school, future self-continuity did not significantly predict pro-environmental behaviors in either high or low green self-efficacy level. Conclusion: This study suggests that there is a moderated mediation model between adolescents’ climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors, with different mediating and moderating effects among adolescents in various grades. This is of great significance in alleviating climate anxiety among adolescents and cultivating their pro-environmental behaviors.

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  • Empirical research has demonstrated that those with high GSE are more likely to respond to CCA with proactive behaviors, while individuals low in efficacy are more prone to helplessness or withdrawal.

    “Supporting this view, empirical research has demonstrated that those with high GSE are more likely to respond to CCA with proactive behaviors, while individuals low in efficacy are more prone to helplessness or withdrawal [33].”

    From The power of loss: message framing, climate anxiety, and engagement in personal carbon trading (2025) · cites this paper as [33]

  • Individuals who report higher levels of FR are generally more motivated to engage in climate mitigation behaviors.

    “Research has shown that individuals who report higher levels of FR are generally more motivated to engage in climate mitigation behaviors [33].”

    From The power of loss: message framing, climate anxiety, and engagement in personal carbon trading (2025) · cites this paper as [33]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Qin, Z., Wu, Q., Bi, C., Deng, Y., & Hu, Q.
Affiliations
Sichuan Normal University (CN)
Corresponding author
Bi, Cuihua
ORCID
Venue
BMC Psychology
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2024-04-27
Volume
12
Issue
1
Pages
241-241
ISSN
2050-7283 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s40359-024-01746-1
PMC
PMC11056057
OpenAlex
W4395688912
Cited by
99
References
12
Citations by year
2026: 51 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 7
FWCI
52.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Key project of Sichuan Provincial Applied Psychology Research Center (CSXL-21101)
  • Sichuan Teacher Education Research Center Project (TER2021-011)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change Communication and Perception
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Environmental Education and Sustainability
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Psychological and Temporal Perspectives Research
Keywords
climate anxiety, pro-environmental behavior, future self-continuity, green self-efficacy, adolescents, moderated mediation, junior high school students, high school students, grade level differences, green lifestyle
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Anxiety, Environment, Female, Humans, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Students, Self Efficacy, Climate Change

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