Psychometric properties of the Inventory of Climate Emotions and its links with mental health and climate actions in a Chinese sample

Abstract

Climate emotion has emerged as a crucial mechanism for studying people's psychological and behavioral responses to climate change. This study aimed to investigate the structure of climate emotions and their associations with mental health and climate actions in a Chinese population by revising the Inventory of Climate Emotions (ICE). Confirmatory factor analyses validated the applicability of a modified eight-factor, 24-item structure—including climate anger, contempt, enthusiasm, powerlessness, guilt, isolation, anxiety, and sorrow—in the Chinese context. The Chinese version of the ICE demonstrated good concurrent, predictive, and discriminant validity, as well as satisfactory internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and measurement invariance across gender and over time. Structural equation modeling revealed four distinct categories of climate emotions. Among these, climate anger, enthusiasm, and sorrow were positively associated with climate actions and had either neutral or beneficial effects on mental health. Climate guilt emerged as a mixed emotion, motivating environmental actions while being positively linked to symptoms of anxiety and depression. Climate contempt appeared to offer some psychological protection but did not promote environmental behavior. In contrast, climate powerlessness, isolation, and anxiety were not positively associated with either psychological well-being or climate action. In conclusion, the Chinese ICE can be used as an effective tool to study climate-related emotions. Furthermore, leveraging climate emotions—particularly anger, enthusiasm, and sorrow—may be key to interventions that balance individual well-being and environmental sustainability.