Man enough to save the planet? Masculinity concerns predict attitudes toward climate change

Despite scientific consensus that climate change is occurring, many individuals deny that the climate is changing. Although past work has examined gender differences in climate change attitudes, less is known about how within-gender individual differences may affect climate change concern. In this paper, I study how masculinity concerns relate to climate change attitudes in men. I assert that expressing concern about climate change is associated with traditionally feminine characteristics of warmth, caring and compassion and predict that, because of this relationship, men who are more concerned about maintaining their sense of masculinity will express less concern about climate change. Across four studies, I find support for my predictions.