Browsing by Author "Ogunbode, Charles A."

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Climate Anxiety, Wellbeing and Pro-Environmental Action: Correlates of Negative Emotional Responses To Climate Change in 32 Countries
(Academic Press Ltd- Elsevier Science Ltd, 2022) Ogunbode, Charles A.; Doran, Rouven; Hanss, Daniel; Ojala, Maria; Salmela-Aro, Katariina; van den Broek, Karlijn L.; Karasu, Mehmet
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.
Evidence for Motivated Control? Climate Change Related Distress Is Positively Associated with Domain-Specific Efficacy Beliefs and Climate Action
(Academic Press Ltd- Elsevier Science Ltd, 2025) Hanss, Daniel; Ogunbode, Charles A.; Doran, Rouven; Renkel, Johanna E.; Mueller, Helena; Albzour, Mai; Yadav, Radha
Recent cross-sectional and experimental research has found measures of climate change related distress to be positively associated with measures of efficacy beliefs. 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 ac-tion and both individual and collective efficacy. Furthermore, we found evidence for an indirect effect of negative emotions on climate action via efficacy beliefs (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 the association with individual efficacy was 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 efficacy beliefs 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.