Recent cross-sectional and experimental research has found measures of climate change related distress to be positively associated with measures of self-efficacy. Authors of some of these studies have interpreted this finding in terms of motivated control, that is, people who experience climate change related distress are motivated to believe that they can help mitigate climate change. We extend this notion of motivated control by assuming that efficacy beliefs flowing from climate change related distress play a role in encouraging climate action. In two cross-sectional studies, we investigate this assumption: Study 1 used data from a multi-country study and found that negative emotions regarding climate change were positively associated with climate action and both individual and collective self-efficacy. Furthermore, we found evidence for an indirect effect of negative emotions on climate action via self-efficacy (individual and collective). Study 2 conceptually replicated this mediation effect, using data from a sample of citizens in Germany and a different measure of distress, focusing on climate change worry. Additional exploratory analyses revealed that associations with self-efficacy and climate action were stronger for more adaptive forms of climate change worry, compared to less adaptive forms. We conclude that our findings provide correlational support for motivated control being one of the psychological processes – and self-efficacy being one of the person-level factors – that account for adaptive behavioral reactions to climate change related distress. Experimental and longitudinal studies are needed to further substantiate this conclusion.

Place attachment describes the emotional connection that people hold with a physical space, and such bonds have been shown to be associated with higher levels of life satisfaction, as well as physical and mental well-being. Although a temporal element of place attachment is acknowledged, the exact nature of time’s role in such relationships is yet to be fully understood. The current study addressed this using qualitative interviews with nine long-term residents of an urban centre in Northwest England. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied to explore the underlying mechanisms through which time asserts its influence on place attachment. Analysis developed three interrelated super-ordinate themes: what time brings, accumulated attachment, and time as a dialectic. As time passes, life events, cultural changes, and physical transformation to the environment affect individuals’ interactions with place, and thus their relationship with it. Continued inhabitation leads to an accumulation of emotional salience. Ultimately, time interacts with human memory, offering individuals multiple perspectives through which to make sense of their present environment. Issues may then arise, as memory is heavily influenced by the passing of time. Consequently, present-day perceptions of the place’s past are often viewed through a prism of nostalgia, with implications for the person-place bond.

This study explored the correlates of climate anxiety in a diverse range of national contexts. We analysed cross-sectional data gathered in 32 countries (N = 12,246). Our results show that climate anxiety is positively related to rate of exposure to information about climate change impacts, the amount of attention people pay to climate change information, and perceived descriptive norms about emotional responding to climate change. Climate anxiety was also positively linked to pro-environmental behaviours and negatively linked to mental wellbeing. Notably, climate anxiety had a significant inverse association with mental wellbeing in 31 out of 32 countries. In contrast, it had a significant association with pro-environmental behaviour in 24 countries, and with environ-mental activism in 12 countries. Our findings highlight contextual boundaries to engagement in environmental action as an antidote to climate anxiety, and the broad international significance of considering negative climate -related emotions as a plausible threat to wellbeing.

The Big Five Inventory-10 (BFI-10; Rammstedt & John, 2007) is one of many short versions of personality inventories that measure the Big Five trait dimensions. Short versions of scales often present methodological challenges as a trade-off for their convenience. Based on samples from 28 countries (N = 10,560), the current study investigated inter-item correlations estimated using Omega coefficients within each of the five personality characteristics measured by the BFI-10. Results showed that inter-item correlations were significantly lower, in the sample data from non-Western countries compared with the Western countries, for three of the five personality traits, specifically Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Emotional Stability. Our findings indicate that the psychometric challenges exist across different cultures and traits. We offer recommendations when using short-item scales such as BFI-10 in survey research.

Climate change threatens mental health via increasing exposure to the social and economic disruptions created by extreme weather and large-scale climatic events, as well as through the anxiety associated with recognising the existential threat posed by the climate crisis. Considering the growing levels of climate change awareness across the world, negative emotions like anxiety and worry about climate-related risks are a potentially pervasive conduit for the adverse impacts of climate change on mental health. In this study, we examined how negative climate-related emotions relate to sleep and mental health among a diverse non-representative sample of individuals recruited from 25 countries, as well as a Norwegian nationally-representative sample. Overall, we found that negative climate-related emotions are positively associated with insomnia symptoms and negatively related to self-rated mental health in most countries. Our findings suggest that climate-related psychological stressors are significantly linked with mental health in many countries and draw attention to the need for cross-disciplinary research aimed at achieving rigorous empirical assessments of the unique challenge posed to mental health by negative emotional responses to climate change.

Urban regeneration is an important policy focus across the European Union, with initiatives seeking to address inequalities in public health. Although theoretically such initiatives should produce benefits for mental wellbeing, this lacks strong supporting evidence. The current research addressed a prior overreliance on quantitative methods and underappreciation of the psychological significance of place, through the adoption of qualitative interviews with residents, as part of an independent review of a £650m regeneration project. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was utilised to explore the processes involved in residents' mental wellbeing and place attachment. Analysis developed three super-ordinate themes: ‘feelings of control’, ‘social and community relations’, and ‘understandings and definitions of place’. These highlight issues relating to physical health, social isolation, community cohesion, as well as the potential for regeneration activities to undermine various elements of the people-place relationship.