Coping with the climate crisis: text-derived coping profiles reveal a tension between burden, engagement, and mental well-being in four countries
Prior research on how people cope with distress about the climate crisis has largely relied on convenience samples in single countries, has primarily used closed-response measures, and has rarely distinguished between engaged versus disengaged forms of emotion-focused coping. Drawing on the transact...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
August 2026
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| In: |
Journal of environmental psychology
Year: 2026, Volume: 113, Pages: 1-12 |
| ISSN: | 1522-9610 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103102 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103102 Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494426002033 
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| Author Notes: | Luca Zauner, Jana Urbild, Benjamin E. Hilbig, Sean P. Lane, Johanna Hepp |
| Summary: | Prior research on how people cope with distress about the climate crisis has largely relied on convenience samples in single countries, has primarily used closed-response measures, and has rarely distinguished between engaged versus disengaged forms of emotion-focused coping. Drawing on the transactional model of stress and coping, this preregistered study examined climate distress, impairment, individual environmental self-efficacy, and open-ended coping strategies in four nationally representative samples in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and South Africa (total N = 3765). All code and data are openly available. In mixed-effects models with random intercepts for country and statistical adjustment for age and gender, higher distress was consistently associated with higher impairment and higher pro-environmental behavior. Contrary to hypotheses, individual environmental self-efficacy was positively associated with impairment and pro-environmental behavior and did not buffer the distress-impairment association. Open-ended coping responses from three samples were coded into problem-focused coping (PFC), meaning-focused coping (MFC), active emotion-focused coping (EFC-A), and disengaged emotion-focused coping (EFC-D), yielding 2138 analyzable coded responses. Planned contrasts revealed that MFC was associated with lower impairment compared to PFC or EFC-A, but with higher impairment compared to EFC-D. Exploratory models extended this pattern across climate-specific and general mental health outcomes: EFC-D was associated with lower climate distress and impairment but also lower engagement (pro-environmental behavior, environmental self-efficacy, and activism), and it further co-occurred with lower mental well-being and lower life satisfaction. In contrast, PFC showed the opposite profile, with higher engagement alongside higher distress. We discuss a potential tension between reducing climate distress through coping while avoiding downstream costs for pro-environmental behavior. |
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| Item Description: | Online verfügbar: 9. Juni 2026, Artikelversion: 12. Juni 2026 Gesehen am 21.07.2026 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1522-9610 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103102 |