Jimenez-Vazquez David, Piqueras Jose-Antonio, Espinosa-Fernandez Lourdes, Canals-Sans Josefa, Garcia-Lopez Luis-Joaquin
Division of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, Spain.
Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernandez University, Elche, Spain.
Front Psychol. 2025 Aug 5;16:1631481. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1631481. eCollection 2025.
Evidence suggests that climate change affects both the physical and mental health of the global population. In this context, interest in research and in the development of reliable and valid tools to measure climate anxiety-defined as the experience of intense anxiety associated with perceptions of climate change-has increased.
The sample consisted of 1,065 respondents (49% self-identified as females) aged between 12 and 18 years ( = 14.0, SD = 1.49). This study is the first to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Climate Anxiety Scale, a 13-item questionnaire designed to assess anxiety as a psychological response to climate change, in a large population of Spanish-speaking adolescents.
The results showed a satisfactory model fit for the scale, with two subscales (cognitive-emotional impairment and functional impairment), both demonstrating adequate internal consistency. The subscales were invariant across gender, age, and socioeconomic status. Both subscales showed weak positive correlations with measures of emotional symptoms, emotional dysregulation, quality of life, and resilience-particularly for the functional impairment subscale. Network analyses indicated low centrality and connectivity of the CAS total score and subscales within the system. Overall levels of climate anxiety were low, though higher levels were observed among female adolescents, younger adolescents, and those from families with lower socioeconomic status.
This study provides support for the use of the CAS in the Spanish-speaking adolescent population. The findings suggest that adolescent climate anxiety functions independently and reflects a complex emotional and existential response to the ecological crisis.
有证据表明，气候变化影响着全球人口的身心健康。在这种背景下，人们对研究以及开发可靠且有效的工具来测量气候焦虑（定义为与气候变化认知相关的强烈焦虑体验）的兴趣有所增加。
样本包括1065名年龄在12至18岁之间的受访者（49%自我认定为女性）（平均年龄 = 14.0，标准差 = 1.49）。本研究首次在大量讲西班牙语的青少年群体中评估了气候焦虑量表的心理测量特性，该量表是一份包含13个条目的问卷，旨在评估焦虑作为对气候变化的一种心理反应。
结果显示该量表具有令人满意的模型拟合度，有两个子量表（认知 - 情感损害和功能损害），两者均显示出足够的内部一致性。这些子量表在性别、年龄和社会经济地位方面具有不变性。两个子量表与情绪症状、情绪失调、生活质量和复原力的测量指标均呈弱正相关——特别是功能损害子量表。网络分析表明气候焦虑量表总分及子量表在该系统中的中心性和连通性较低。总体气候焦虑水平较低，不过在女性青少年、年龄较小的青少年以及来自社会经济地位较低家庭的青少年中观察到较高水平。
本研究为在讲西班牙语的青少年群体中使用气候焦虑量表提供了支持。研究结果表明，青少年气候焦虑具有独立性，反映了对生态危机的一种复杂的情绪和生存反应。
