Do neuroticism and efficacy beliefs moderate the relationship between climate change worry and mental wellbeing?

Abstract

People around the world are worried about the climate crisis and increased attention is being drawn to the implications that this can have for mental wellbeing. While research on the nature and prevalence of phenomena like climate anxiety (or eco-anxiety) is increasing rapidly, there is still very little understanding of the conditions under which people’s worries about climate change become more or less likely to significantly impact their mental wellbeing. Here, we considered two plausible moderators of the relationship between climate change worry and mental wellbeing: neuroticism and efficacy beliefs. Our findings show that climate change worry is negatively related to mental wellbeing at any level of perceived efficacy. In contrast, climate change worry is only significantly related to mental wellbeing at low and average levels of neuroticism. High neuroticism appears to have a masking, rather than amplifying, effect on the relationship between climate change worry and mental wellbeing.