Motivated by worry, burdened by hopelessness: Emotional correlates of climate action and personal well-being

Abstract

As public awareness of climate change grows, individuals increasingly report experiencing negative emotions such as eco-worry and eco-hopelessness. This study investigated how these two emotions are associated with psychological well-being and pro-environmental behavior (PEB) and whether the focus of these emotions (individual/micro vs. collective/macro) influences these relationships. Two cross-sectional studies were conducted with adult participants from Germany. Study 1 included 339 individuals aged between 18 and 76 years (M = 33.17, SD = 15.76; 53.4% male, 46.0% female, 0.6% diverse), and Study 2 included 313 individuals (M = 34.93, SD = 15.70, 18–84 years; 50.2% male, 49.8% female). Analyses revealed that eco-hopelessness was consistently associated with lower emotional well-being and life satisfaction, whereas eco-worry showed no associations with well-being. In contrast, eco-worry was robustly related to PEB, whereas eco-hopelessness showed no association. Multigroup structural equation modeling further supported the replication of these results across both studies. In addition, the micro–macro perspectives showed distinct relations: Micro eco-hopelessness was more strongly linked to lower well-being, whereas macro eco-worry was more strongly associated with PEB. These findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between specific climate-related emotions and recognizing differential relations for an individual versus a collective focus.