Climate worry: impairment in everyday life and perceived need for psychological support

Background: Previous research has shown a marked increase in the levels of worry related to climate change in the population and has described that some individuals experience significant impairment in everyday life functioning due to this worry. The aim of the current study was to extend those findings using gold standard measures of worry and impairment, and to describe and explore the characteristics and the need for psychological support of individuals showing climate worry-related impairment. Method: We used a cross-sectional online survey targeting adult individuals who self-identified as being worried about the climate. Participants were recruited in Sweden via social media between September and October 2022. The survey included measures of worry, worry-maintaining behaviors, impairment, depressive symptoms, and sleep problems, as well as a series of commonly used one-item questions about their climate worry, Results: A total of 1221 adults (75% women, mean age 46.3 years) provided data. Previously used one-item measures of worry and impairment displayed strong and significant associations with gold standard, dimensional measures of worry and impairment. A total of 781 (64%) individuals said that they were very worried about the climate and 153 (13%) were classified as having maladaptive climate worry, according to predefined criteria (i.e., a significant and persistent experience of climate worry and significant impairment on everyday life functioning attributable to climate worry). This classification of maladaptive climate worry was validated by a data-driven approach. Individuals with maladaptive climate worry were more likely to express higher levels of depressed mood and sleep problems and were also more likely to be engaged in worry-maintaining coping behaviors across different domains. While only a minority of respondents with maladaptive climate worry (25%) had been in contact with healthcare services, a majority (77%) expressed interest in receiving some form of psychological support. Conclusions: Climate worry-related impairment was shown to be relatively prevalent in individuals with climate worry. As there is demand for psychological support, an important next step would be to develop and evaluate brief, scalable interventions targeted towards the needs of this group.