Climate Change and Emotions: A Comparative Study across Affected and Non-Affected Provinces in Iran
Downloads
Objective: This study aims to compare climate-related emotions in provinces with higher and lower climate change impacts.
Methods and Materials: The statistical population included residents from 10 provinces (5 with higher and 5 with lower climate change impacts) in 2024. A total of 1,379 valid questionnaires were collected using the climate change emotions questionnaire (Marczak, Wierzba, Zaremba & et al., 2023). Data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics, including Student's t-test.
Findings: Significant differences were found in the emotional responses of anger, passion, anxiety, and sorrow between the provinces with higher and lower climate change impacts (p<0.001). In other words, people in provinces with lower climate change impacts reported higher emotional scores.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that emotional responses to climate change are more pronounced in provinces with lower climate change impacts. This underscores the mental health implications of climate change and the need for targeted interventions in different regions.
Downloads
Arias, P., Bellouin, N., Coppola, E., Jones, R., Krinner, G., Marotzke, J., & Zickfeld, K. (2021). Climate Change 2021: the physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; technical summary. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/climate-change-2021-the-physical-science-basis/415F29233B8BD19FB55F65E3DC67272B
Aryasadr, M., Rahimi, D., Amiri, H., & Zand, M. (2024). Impact of Climate Change on Groundwater in Cham Anjir Aquifer. Spatial Planning, 14(4), 53-80. https://doi.org/10.22108/sppl.2024.141550.1790
Asghari, M. (2024). Climate change: the biggest challenge of the modern century for workers. Quarterly Journal of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, 16(3), 1-5. https://doi.org/10.18502/tkj.v16i3.16870
Clayton, S. (2020). Climate anxiety: Psychological responses to climate change. Journal of anxiety disorders, 74, 102263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102263
Clayton, S., & Karazsia, B. T. (2020). Development and validation of a measure of climate change anxiety. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 69, 101434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101434
Doherty, T. J., & Clayton, S. (2011). The psychological impacts of global climate change. American psychologist, 66(4), 265-276. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023141
Garfin, D. R., Zernick, M. V., & Wong-Parodi, G. (2024). Emotions, worry, efficacy, and climate change-related sustainability behaviors among a representative sample of Texas and Florida residents. Climatic Change, 177(3), 54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03658-2
Gianfredi, V., Mazziotta, F., Clerici, G., Astorri, E., Oliani, F., Cappellina, M., Catalini, A., Dell'Osso, B. M., Pregliasco, F. E., Castaldi, S., & Benatti, B. (2024). Climate Change Perception and Mental Health. Results from a Systematic Review of the Literature. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 14(1), 215-229. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe14010014
Gregersen, T., Andersen, G., & Tvinnereim, E. (2023). The strength and content of climate anger. Global Environmental Change, 82, 102738. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102738
Hamilton, J. (2022). "Alchemizing sorrow into deep determination": Emotional reflexivity and climate change engagement. Frontiers in Climate, 4, 786631. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2022.786631
Harth, N. S. (2021). Affect, (group-based) emotions, and climate change action. Current opinion in psychology, 42, 140-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.07.018
Holthaus, L. (2023). Feelings of (eco-) grief and sorrow: climate activists as emotion entrepreneurs. European Journal of International Relations, 29(2), 352-373. https://doi.org/10.1177/13540661221136772
Jones, J., Kauffman, B. Y., Rosenfield, D., Smits, J. A. J., & Zvolensky, M. J. (2019). Emotion dysregulation and body mass index: The explanatory role of emotional eating among adult smokers. Eating behaviors, 33, 97-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2019.05.003
Marczak, M., Wierzba, M., Zaremba, D., Kulesza, M., Szczypiński, J., Kossowski, B., & Marchewka, A. (2023). Beyond climate anxiety: Development and validation of the inventory of climate emotions (ICE): A measure of multiple emotions experienced in relation to climate change. Global Environmental Change, 83, 102764. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102764
Marczak, M., Winkowska, M., Chaton-Østlie, K., Rios, R. M., & Klöckner, C. A. (2023). "When I say I'm depressed, it's like anger." An exploration of the emotional landscape of climate change concern in Norway and its psychological, social and political implications. Emotion, Space and Society, 46, 100939. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2023.100939
Myers, T. A., Nisbet, M. C., Maibach, E. W., & Leiserowitz, A. A. (2012). A public health frame arouses hopeful emotions about climate change: A letter. Climatic Change, 113, 1105-1112. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0513-6
Ojala, M. (2023). Hope and climate-change engagement from a psychological perspective. Current opinion in psychology, 49, 101514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101514
Pandit, C. (2014). Environmental over enthusiasm. International journal of water resources development, 30(1), 110-120. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2013.871480
Pellitier, P. T., Ng, M., Castaneda, S. R., Moser, S. C., & Wray, B. D. (2023). Embracing climate emotions to advance higher education. Nature Climate Change, 13(11), 1148-1150. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01838-7
Pihkala, P. (2024). Ecological sorrow: Types of grief and loss in ecological grief. Sustainability, 16(2), 849. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16020849
Ramadan, R., Randell, A., Lavoie, S., Gao, C. X., Manrique, P. C., Anderson, R., McDowell, C., & Zbukvic, I. (2023). Empirical evidence for climate concerns, negative emotions and climate-related mental ill-health in young people: A scoping review. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 17(6), 537-563. https://doi.org/10.1111/eip.13374
Schneider, C. R., Zaval, L., & Markowitz, E. M. (2021). Positive emotions and climate change. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 42, 114-120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.04.009
Soutar, C., & Wand, A. P. F. (2022). Understanding the Spectrum of Anxiety Responses to Climate Change: A Systematic Review of the Qualitative Literature. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(2), 990. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19020990
Stanley, S. K., Hogg, T. L., Leviston, Z., & Walker, I. (2021). From anger to action: Differential impacts of eco-anxiety, eco-depression, and eco-anger on climate action and wellbeing. The Journal of Climate Change and Health, 1, 100003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joclim.2021.100003
van Kleef, G. A., & Côté, S. (2022). The social effects of emotions. Annual review of psychology, 73, 629-658. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-020821-010855
Zurich, E. T. H., & Association, E. T. H. A. (2017). Enthusiasm for learning. Globe, 2017(1). https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000701211
Copyright (c) 2025 International Journal of Body, Mind and Culture

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.