AUTHOR=Larionow Paweł , Sołtys Michalina , Izdebski Paweł , Mudło-Głagolska Karolina , Golonka Justyna , Demski Maksym , Rosińska Maja 

TITLE=Climate Change Anxiety Assessment: The Psychometric Properties of the Polish Version of the Climate Anxiety Scale

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.870392

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.870392

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=The Climate Anxiety Scale (CAS) is a 13-item questionnaire for assessing climate anxiety (CA) as a
psychological response to climate change. The CAS consists of two subscales: the cognitive
impairment and the functional impairment. The study aims to validate the Polish version of the CAS.
The sample included 603 respondents (344 females, 247 males, 12 non-binary), aged 18–70 (M
=25.32, SD=9.59). On the basis of exploratory factor analysis results, we proposed a 3-factor solution
(intrusive symptoms, reflections on climate anxiety and functional impairment), which seems to be
theoretically more consistent with the content of the CAS statements. The confirmatory factor
analysis showed that the original 2-factor solution and the 3-factor one had satisfactory and good fit
to the data, respectively, as well as both were invariant across different gender, age and educational
level categories. Despite the fact that the 3-factor solution had the best fit indices, we recommend to
examine the CAS structure in different samples and use the overall CAS score in cross-cultural
research. Cognitive and functional impairment subscales were positively correlated with personal
experience of climate change, behavioral engagement, environmental identity, environmental
motives, but they were negatively correlated with climate change denial and sense of safety. The
CAS subscales were correlated with depressive symptoms, but contrary to expectations, they were
not associated with anxiety symptoms and any of cognitive coping strategies. The Polish version of
the CAS has satisfactory psychometric properties. Overall, we reported low CA levels in the Polish
sample. Females and younger people experienced higher CA.