ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Planetary Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1642689
This article is part of the Research TopicEnvironmental Challenges and Public Health Inequality: Climate Change Impacts and Adaptive BehaviorsView all articles
The Role of Climate Change Anxiety in Shaping Childrearing Intentions Among People Living in British Columbia
Provisionally accepted
Niloufar Aran1
Aayush Sharma1Andreea Bratu1Kalysha Closson1
Maya K. Gislason1
Angel Kennedy1Carmen H. Logie2
Jennifer L. Barkin3Robert S. Hogg1Kiffer G. Card1*- 1Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada
- 2University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- 3Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, United States
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Word count: 236 Introduction: Climate change concerns have emerged as a factor in shaping childrearing intentions. Given extreme weather events, climate change-related anxiety has increased drastically in the region of British Columbia (BC), Canada. This study explored how worry about an increasingly uncertain future may be associated with people's childrearing intentions in BC. Methods: This study used BC-CDMS (British Columbia Climate Distress Monitoring System) data from childless participants aged 16-44. We conducted multinomial logistic regression analyses (n = 441) to examine the association between climate change anxiety (measured using the Climate Change Anxiety Scale [CCAS]) and childrearing intentions. We controlled for covariates, including socio-demographic characteristics and generalized distress. A mediation analysis also tested whether political orientation mediates the primary relationship. Results: Participants who were undecided about having children (aOR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.10-2.26) and those who planned not to have children (aOR = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.13-2.37) had higher CCAS scores compared to those who planned to have children. After controlling for covariates, climate change anxiety was still associated with childrearing intentions. Our mediation model indicated that political orientation scores partially mediate the relationship between climate anxiety and childrearing intentions. Discussion: Decision-makers should consider the impacts of climate anxiety and childrearing intentions on population and demographic shifts while supporting opportunities to reduce climate anxiety. Future research should consider the factors that influence and contribute to climate anxiety and climate-related distress, and their impact on childrearing intentions.
Keywords: Climate anxiety, childrearing, climate distress, political orientation, Climate Change, Family planning
Received: 07 Jun 2025; Accepted: 25 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Aran, Sharma, Bratu, Closson, Gislason, Kennedy, Logie, Barkin, Hogg and Card. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Kiffer G. Card, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada
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