As scientific evidence of the severity of climate change increases, there are indications that this represents a significant psychological burden in the form of climate anxiety on the public. So far very little research has explored the prevalence, predictors, or effects of climate anxiety amongst the public. This study aims to address this gap by exploring climate anxiety in the UK. It addresses the following questions: (a) How prevalent is climate anxiety amongst adults in the UK? (b) What are the predictors of climate anxiety? and (c) Does climate anxiety predict climate action? We report on findings from an online survey of the UK public (N = 1338) undertaken in late 2020 (partially replicated in May 2022 with a sub-sample of 891 respondents) which found that while there are high levels of concern about climate change, there are low levels of climate anxiety (measured using the Climate Change Anxiety Scale). Climate anxiety was higher amongst younger age groups, those with higher climate concern, higher generalised anxiety, lower mindfulness, higher nature relatedness, and more climate change information seeking behaviour. In addition, climate anxiety predicted some (but not all) types of pro-environmental action. Consistent with other recent research, these findings indicate that climate anxiety may not necessarily be a negative impact of, or maladaptive response to, climate change; but rather, at least to some degree, be a motivating force for effective action.

随着气候变化严重性的科学证据越来越多，有迹象表明，这对公众造成了气候焦虑形式的重大心理负担。到目前为止，很少有研究探讨公众气候焦虑的流行程度、预测因素或影响。本研究旨在通过探索英国的气候焦虑来解决这一差距。它解决了以下问题：(a) 英国成年人的气候焦虑有多普遍？(b) 气候焦虑的预测因素是什么？(c) 气候焦虑能否预测气候行动？我们报告了对英国公众的在线调查结果（N = 1338）于 2020 年末进行（部分复制于 2022 年 5 月，子样本为 891 名受访者），发现虽然对气候变化的担忧程度很高，但气候焦虑程度较低（使用气候变化焦虑衡量规模）。年轻群体的气候焦虑程度更高，气候关注度更高，广泛性焦虑程度更高，正念程度更低，自然相关性更高，以及更多寻求气候变化信息的行为。此外，气候焦虑预测了一些（但不是全部）类型的环保行动。与最近的其他研究一致，这些发现表明气候焦虑不一定是气候变化的负面影响或适应不良反应；而是至少在某种程度上成为有效行动的动力。