Nieves Maria, Jansen Karen
Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Católica de Pelotas (UCPel), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
Trends Psychiatry Psychother. 2025 Jan 3. doi: 10.47626/2237-6089-2024-0905.
Climate change is happening, and feeling anxiety can be seen as a natural response to it. Climate anxiety is the worry about the climate crisis and could be related to specific emotions and thoughts. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of worry about climate change, and to describe the emotions and thoughts associated to it in Brazilian adults.
Cross-sectional study with participants aged between 18-42 years (n=323). Data were collected online using the questionnaire developed by Hickman and colleagues, which assesses the worry, thoughts and feelings about climate change.
88.5% were worried about climate change. The feelings of sadness, powerlessness, fear and anxiety were reported more often among those who were worried. The most frequent thoughts were: "People have failed to take care of the planet", "The future is frightening", "My family's security will be threatened" and "Humanity is doomed".
In this sample, the majority of the individuals were concerned about climate change, and they showed more negative emotions and thoughts when compared to individuals that were not concerned. Future studies should take care to not understand natural worries and anxiety responses to climate change as pathological.
气候变化正在发生，感到焦虑可被视为对其的一种自然反应。气候焦虑是对气候危机的担忧，可能与特定的情绪和想法有关。本研究的目的是评估巴西成年人中对气候变化担忧的患病率，并描述与之相关的情绪和想法。
对年龄在18 - 42岁之间的参与者（n = 323）进行横断面研究。使用希克曼及其同事编制的问卷通过网络收集数据，该问卷评估对气候变化的担忧、想法和感受。
88.5%的人担心气候变化。在那些担心的人中，悲伤、无力、恐惧和焦虑的情绪报告得更为频繁。最常见的想法是：“人们没有照顾好地球”、“未来令人恐惧”、“我家人的安全将受到威胁”以及“人类注定灭亡”。
在这个样本中，大多数人关心气候变化，与不关心的人相比，他们表现出更多的负面情绪和想法。未来的研究应注意不要将对气候变化的自然担忧和焦虑反应视为病态。
