Marais-Potgieter Andrea, Thatcher Andrew, Siemers Ian
Department of Psychology, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Heliyon. 2024 Aug 22;10(17):e36722. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e36722. eCollection 2024 Sep 15.
The pandemic and climate change are mortality salience triggers. Environmental issues, attitudes, and climate change risk perceptions were hypothesised to impact how individuals perceived the threat of COVID-19 and climate change during the pandemic. The study explored: 1.) the associations between seeing a link between COVID-19 and climate change and environmental concerns; 2.) the associations between mortality salience and environmental concerns; 3.) the associations between feeling less worried during the pandemic and environmental concerns; and 4.) what these associations tell us about the relationship between mortality salience, the perceived link between COVID-19 and climate change, and feeling less worried during the pandemic. A sample of 665 respondents was achieved from an online survey in 2021. The results of the multiple regression analysis and structural equation modelling showed that environmental issues, attitudes and perceptions, time spent in nature, and climate change risk perception played a role in the extent to which individuals perceived COVID-19 as an indicator of climate change threats, whether mortality salience was made conscious, and whether there was distancing of concern about climate change and social issues during the pandemic. The study makes an important contribution to understanding psychological processes that are activated during disasters that trigger mortality salience, and how this is impacted by the human-nature nexus, and climate change risk perception.
疫情和气候变化是引发死亡凸显性的因素。研究假设环境问题、态度以及气候变化风险认知会影响个体在疫情期间对新冠疫情威胁和气候变化的认知。该研究探讨了：1.）认为新冠疫情与气候变化之间存在关联和环境关切之间的联系；2.）死亡凸显性与环境关切之间的联系；3.）在疫情期间感觉担忧减轻与环境关切之间的联系；以及4.）这些联系能让我们了解到死亡凸显性、新冠疫情与气候变化之间的感知联系以及在疫情期间感觉担忧减轻之间的何种关系。通过2021年的一项在线调查获得了665名受访者的样本。多元回归分析和结构方程模型的结果表明，环境问题、态度和认知、在自然中度过的时间以及气候变化风险认知，在个体将新冠疫情视为气候变化威胁指标的程度、是否意识到死亡凸显性以及在疫情期间是否对气候变化和社会问题的关注度降低等方面发挥了作用。该研究对于理解在引发死亡凸显性的灾难期间被激活的心理过程，以及这如何受到人与自然关系和气候变化风险认知的影响，做出了重要贡献。
