The notion of climate change anxiety has gained traction in the last years. Clayton & Karazsia (2020) recently developed the 22-item Climate Change Anxiety Scale (CAS), which assesses climate change anxiety via a four-factor structure. Yet other research has cast doubts on the very structure of the CAS by calling either for a shorter (i.e. 13 items) two-factor structure or for a shorter single-factor structure (i.e. 13 items). So far, these three different models have not yet been compared in one study. Moreover, uncertainty remains regarding the associations between the CAS and other psychological constructs, especially anxiety and depression. This project was designed to overcome these limitations. In a first preregistered study (n = 305), we translated the scale into French and tested, via confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), whether the French version would better fit with a four-, two-, or single-factor structure, as implied by previous works. We also examined how the CAS factors related to depression, anxiety, and environmental identity. In a second preregistered study, we aimed at replicating our comparison between the three CFA models in a larger sample (n = 905). Both studies pointed to a 13-item version of the scale with a two-factor structure as the best fitting model, with one factor reflecting cognitive and emotional features of climate change anxiety and the other reflecting the related functional impairments. Each factor exhibited a positive association with depression and environmental identity but not with general anxiety. We discuss how this two-factor structure impacts the conceptualization of climate change anxiety.

中文翻译：

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关于气候变化焦虑的测量：法国气候焦虑量表的验证。

过去几年，气候变化焦虑的概念越来越受到关注。Clayton & Karazsia (2020) 最近开发了包含 22 项的气候变化焦虑量表 (CAS)，该量表通过四因素结构评估气候变化焦虑。然而其他研究对 CAS 的结构提出了质疑，要求采用较短的（即 13 个项目）双因素结构或较短的单因素结构（即 13 个项目）。到目前为止，尚未在一项研究中对这三种不同的模型进行比较。此外，CAS 与其他心理结构（尤其是焦虑和抑郁）之间的关联仍然存在不确定性。该项目旨在克服这些限制。在第一项预先注册的研究（n = 305）中，我们将量表翻译成法语，并通过验证性因素分析（CFA）测试法语版本是否更适合四因素、二因素或单因素结构，如以前的作品所暗示的。我们还研究了 CAS 因素与抑郁、焦虑和环境认同的关系。在第二项预注册研究中，我们的目标是在更大的样本 (n = 905) 中复制三个 CFA 模型之间的比较。两项研究都指出，具有双因素结构的 13 项量表版本是最佳拟合模型，其中一个因素反映气候变化焦虑的认知和情感特征，另一个因素反映相关的功能障碍。每个因素都与抑郁和环境认同呈正相关，但与一般性焦虑无关。我们讨论这种双因素结构如何影响气候变化焦虑的概念化。