Climate Anxiety and Mental Health in Germany
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Explanation of the Methods
2.1. Description of the Sample
2.2. Dependent Variables
2.3. Independent Variables
2.4. Statistical Analysis
3. Results of the Analyses
3.1. Sample Characteristics and Prevalence Rates
3.2. Regression Analysis
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variables | Characteristics of the Variables | Total Sample |
---|---|---|
Gender | Male | 1554 (50.3) |
Female | 1531 (49.5) | |
Diverse | 6 (0.2) | |
Age (in years) | 46.5 (15.3) | |
Children in own household | No | 2158 (69.8) |
Yes | 933 (30.2) | |
Marital status | Single/Divorced/Widowed/Married, not living together with spouse | 1266 (41.0) |
Married, living together with spouse | 1825 (59.0) | |
Education | Upper secondary school | 1234 (39.9) |
Qualification for applied upper secondary school | 356 (11.5) | |
Polytechnic secondary school | 196 (6.3) | |
Intermediate secondary school | 956 (30.9) | |
Lower secondary school/Without school-leaving qualification | 333 (10.8) | |
Currently in school training/education | 16 (0.5) | |
Employment status | Full-time employment | 1365 (44.2) |
Retired | 646 (20.9) | |
Other | 1080 (34.9) | |
Smoking status | Yes, daily | 722 (23.4) |
Yes, sometimes | 238 (7.7) | |
No, not anymore | 943 (30.5) | |
Never a smoker | 1188 (38.4) | |
Alcohol consumption | Daily | 199 (6.4) |
Several times per week | 544 (17.6) | |
Once per week | 466 (15.1) | |
1–3 times per month | 545 (17.6) | |
Less often | 746 (24.1) | |
Never | 591 (19.1) | |
Sports activities | No sports activity | 838 (27.1) |
Less than one hour per week | 575 (18.6) | |
Regularly, 1–2 h per week | 771 (24.9) | |
Regularly, 2–4 h per week | 490 (15.9) | |
Regularly, more than 4 h per week | 417 (13.5) | |
Chronic diseases | Absence of at least one chronic disease | 1673 (54.1) |
Presence of at least one chronic disease | 1418 (45.9) | |
Self-rated health (from 1 = very bad to 5 = very good) | 3.6 (0.9) | |
Coronavirus anxiety scale (from 0 to 20, with higher values reflecting higher coronavirus anxiety) | 1.4 (3.1) | |
Climate anxiety score (from 1 to 7, with higher values reflecting higher climate anxiety) | 2.0 (1.2) | |
Probable depression | Absence of probable depression | 2377 (76.9) |
Presence of probable depression | 714 (23.1) | |
Probable anxiety | Absence of probable anxiety | 2595 (84.0) |
Presence of probable anxiety | 496 (16.0) |
Depressive Symptoms | Anxiety Symptoms | Climate Anxiety | Age | Self-Rated Health | Coronavirus Anxiety | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Depressive symptoms | 1.00 | |||||
Anxiety symptoms | 0.82 *** | 1.00 | ||||
Climate anxiety | 0.30 *** | 0.31 *** | 1.00 | |||
Age | −0.24 *** | −0.23 *** | −0.18 *** | 1.00 | ||
Self-rated health | −0.41 *** | −0.34 *** | −0.02 | −0.27 *** | 1.00 | |
Coronavirus anxiety | 0.44 *** | 0.45 *** | 0.44 *** | −0.15 *** | −0.12 *** | 1.00 |
Independent Variables | Outcome: Probable Depression | Outcome: Probable Anxiety |
---|---|---|
Climate anxiety | 1.37 *** | 1.27 *** |
(1.25–1.50) | (1.15–1.40) | |
Potential confounders | ✓ | ✓ |
Pseudo-R2 | 0.30 | 0.26 |
Observations | 3091 | 3091 |
Independent Variables | Probable Depression | Probable Anxiety |
---|---|---|
Climate anxiety | 1.37 *** | 1.27 *** |
(1.25–1.50) | (1.15–1.40) | |
Sex: - Female (Ref.: Men) | 1.56 *** | 1.79 *** |
(1.23–1.98) | (1.38–2.33) | |
- Diverse | 0.86 | 0.54 |
(0.10–7.42) | (0.05–5.82) | |
Age (in years) | 0.95 *** | 0.96 *** |
(0.94–0.96) | (0.95–0.97) | |
Children in own household: - Yes (Ref.: No) | 0.87 | 0.84 |
(0.68–1.12) | (0.64–1.10) | |
Marital status: - Living together: married or in a partnership (Ref.: widowed; divorced; single; living separately: married or in partnership) | 0.81 + | 0.89 |
(0.65–1.01) | (0.70–1.14) | |
Highest educational degree: - Qualification for applied upper secondary school (Ref.: upper secondary school) | 0.95 | 0.74 |
(0.67–1.35) | (0.50–1.10) | |
- Polytechnic secondary school | 0.87 | 0.84 |
(0.54–1.41) | (0.49–1.43) | |
- Intermediate secondary school | 0.85 | 0.91 |
(0.65–1.10) | (0.69–1.21) | |
- Lower secondary school/Without school-leaving qualification | 0.81 | 0.85 |
(0.55–1.19) | (0.56–1.30) | |
- Currently in school training/education | 0.63 | 0.54 |
(0.15–2.64) | (0.13–2.27) | |
Employment status: - Retired (Ref.: Full-time employment) | 1.01 | 0.96 |
(0.71–1.44) | (0.65–1.44) | |
- Other | 0.90 | 1.22 |
(0.70–1.15) | (0.94–1.59) | |
Smoking status: - Yes, daily (Ref.: Never a smoker) | 1.23 | 1.07 |
(0.92–1.64) | (0.78–1.46) | |
- Yes, sometimes | 1.54 * | 1.42 |
(1.03–2.28) | (0.93–2.18) | |
- No, not anymore | 1.25 + | 1.12 |
(0.96–1.63) | (0.84–1.50) | |
Alcohol consumption: - Daily (Ref.: Never) | 1.21 | 1.30 |
(0.75–1.97) | (0.77–2.18) | |
- Several times per week | 0.93 | 0.99 |
(0.65–1.34) | (0.67–1.46) | |
- Once per week | 0.88 | 0.86 |
(0.61–1.27) | (0.57–1.29) | |
- 1–3 times per month | 0.92 | 0.89 |
(0.65–1.29) | (0.61–1.29) | |
- Less often | 0.91 | 0.75 + |
(0.67–1.24) | (0.53–1.05) | |
Sports activities: - Less than one hour a week (Ref.: No sports activity) | 0.76 + | 1.05 |
(0.56–1.03) | (0.75–1.46) | |
- Regularly, 1–2 h per week | 0.75 * | 0.95 |
(0.56–1.00) | (0.69–1.30) | |
- Regularly, 2–4 h per week | 0.64 * | 0.71 + |
(0.45–0.91) | (0.48–1.07) | |
- Regularly, more than 4 h per week | 0.67 * | 0.88 |
(0.46–0.97) | (0.59–1.34) | |
Chronic diseases: - Presence of at least one chronic disease (Ref.: Absence of chronic diseases) | 1.40 ** | 1.10 |
(1.10–1.79) | (0.84–1.44) | |
Self-rated health (from 1 = very bad to 5 = very good) | 0.30 *** | 0.35 *** |
(0.26–0.35) | (0.30–0.41) | |
Coronavirus anxiety (from 0 to 20, with higher values reflecting higher coronavirus anxiety) | 1.23 *** | 1.20 *** |
(1.19–1.27) | (1.16–1.24) | |
Constant | 64.00 *** | 12.29 *** |
(27.88–146.93) | (5.16–29.30) | |
Pseudo-R2 | 0.30 | 0.26 |
Observations | 3091 | 3091 |
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Hajek, A.; König, H.-H. Climate Anxiety and Mental Health in Germany. Climate 2023, 11, 158. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli11080158
Hajek A, König H-H. Climate Anxiety and Mental Health in Germany. Climate. 2023; 11(8):158. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli11080158
Chicago/Turabian StyleHajek, André, and Hans-Helmut König. 2023. "Climate Anxiety and Mental Health in Germany" Climate 11, no. 8: 158. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli11080158
APA StyleHajek, A., & König, H. -H. (2023). Climate Anxiety and Mental Health in Germany. Climate, 11(8), 158. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli11080158