(PS2-90) The Role of Pro-Environmental Behaviors on Subjective Climate Change Beliefs, Objective Climate Change Markers, and Environmental Distress

The effects of climate change are not only an environmental crisis but also impact mental health, as individuals grapple with rising levels of eco-distress—feelings of anxiety, grief, powerlessness, sorrow, and guilt in response to environmental degradation. Emerging research is attempting to identify the most effective and appropriate balance of coping, activism, and advocacy to handle experiences of climate change distress. This study explores the relationship between beliefs of climate change and environmental distress and the moderating role of pro-environmental actions (personal behaviors and collective action).

Participants were a U.S. national representative sample of adults recruited from Prolific (n= 1,309). Moderation analyses were run on R with climate change reality (e.g., believing climate change is real) as the predictor, total eco-distress as the outcome, and pro-environmental behaviors (both personal behaviors and collective action) as the moderators. Significant main effects were found between climate change reality and eco-distress on both personal behaviors and collective action (Bs= 2.40 and 2.21, SEs=0.24 and 0.12, and, ps <.001). Significant main effects for personal behaviors (B= 0.33, SE=0.08, p <.001) and collective action B=0.68, SE=0.08, p <.001) on eco-distress were also found. A significant interaction was found for collective action on climate change reality and eco-distress, B= -0.02, SE=0.00, p <.001 but not for personal behaviors (p=.08). These results indicate that individuals who hold higher beliefs that climate change is real predict higher eco-distress and are more likely engaging in pro-environmental actions. Additionally, those who perceive climate change as more real relatively experience less eco-distress when they engage in collective action (e.g., activism, advocacy, policy engagement) rather than personal actions. Participants who reported lower than average levels of pro-environmental collective action experienced a greater effect of climate change reality predicting eco-distress (p <.001). Results show that engaging in collective action helps promote a buffer on the relationship between believing that climate change is real and overall eco-distress. When individual environmental emotions were further explored within eco-distress, interaction effects showed that collective action specifically moderated climate change reality beliefs and eco-anxiety (p=.003), eco-guilt, eco-powerlessness, and eco-sorrow (ps <.001). The rate of temperature change in the US (degrees Fahrenheit /Century) was the only objective marker predictive of higher total eco-distress (p=.046). This study highlights the important role of therapeutic intervention in incorporating community-oriented or potential group-based strategies to foster collective action to help mitigate eco-distress and specific environment-related emotions.