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Eco-anxiety in daily life: Relationships with well-being and pro-environmental behavior
- Source :
- Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, Vol 4, Iss , Pp 100110- (2023)
- Publication Year :
- 2023
- Publisher :
- Elsevier, 2023.
-
Abstract
- Prior research on eco-anxiety, or anxiety and worry about mounting environmental issues, has almost exclusively relied on cross-sectional trait reports. Consequently, little is known about how it is related to focal outcomes, such as well-being (e.g., happiness, meaning in life) and pro-environmental behavior, over time in daily life. To help address this issue, we conducted a preregistered daily diary study, wherein Canadian undergraduates (N = 132) provided trait reports and two weeks of daily reports (n = 1439) on eco-anxiety, positive and negative affect, meaning in life, and pro-environmental behavior. At the trait level, average scores on eco-anxiety were fairly low; yet, higher scores were associated with less positive affect and more negative affect and pro-environmental behavior. Average scores on eco-anxiety were even lower at the state level but nonetheless exhibited notable within-person variability. On days that people felt greater eco-anxiety, they also reported greater negative affect and pro-environmental behavior. Lagged analyses from one day to the next provided some evidence that eco-anxiety increases future negative affect. No significant relationships between eco-anxiety and meaning in life emerged at both levels of analysis. Together, these findings demonstrate that eco-anxiety can be productively conceived of—and studied as—both a trait and a state.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 26666227
- Volume :
- 4
- Issue :
- 100110-
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.fd218404cab04ecfa19c4e41c5355f53
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2023.100110