Climate Change–Model Inventory

Abstract

The Climate Change—Model Inventory, developed by Asgarizadeh, Gifford, and Colborne in 2023, is a comprehensive inventory designed to assess the multifaceted predictors contributing to climate change anxiety. This extensive measurement model comprises 60 items, adapted from various validated sources, and was initially employed in a study focusing on a diverse sample of North American adults. The scale measures several key psychological and behavioral constructs, including objective knowledge of climate change, direct personal experience, global warming worry, risk perception, and media exposure, all intended to predict levels of climate-related distress. Reliability testing confirmed strong internal consistency across all multi-item subscales.

Keywords

Climate Change Anxiety, Climate Change Knowledge, Climate Change Risk Perception, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Global Warming Worry, Measurement Model, Media Exposure About Climate Change Information, Personal Experience of Climate Change, Environmental Measures.

Authors

Asgarizadeh, Zahra; Gifford, Robert; Colborne, Lauren.

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Purpose

The primary objective of the Climate Change—Model Inventory is to systematically examine various psychological, cognitive, and experiential factors related to climate change. This model aims to determine the predictive strength of variables such as knowledge, prior exposure to climate impacts, perceived risk, worry, and media consumption habits in relation to the overall level of climate change anxiety experienced by individuals.

By assessing these diverse predictors simultaneously, the instrument provides a robust framework for researchers and clinicians seeking to understand the complex pathways leading to climate-related psychological distress among the adult population.

Construct

The inventory measures seven distinct constructs critical to understanding environmental psychology and anxiety responses to global warming. These constructs move beyond simple concern to include concrete knowledge and behavioral metrics:

• Climate Change Knowledge: Assesses objective understanding of the physical causes and consequences of climate change.
• Personal Experience of Climate Change: Measures the extent to which an individual has been directly or indirectly impacted by climate-related events.
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Provides a baseline measure of general anxiety independent of climate concerns.
• Climate Change Risk Perception: Evaluates perceived seriousness and likelihood of climate threats to society and the self.
• Global Warming Worry: Measures the frequency and intensity of worry specifically tied to the potential impacts of global warming.
• Media Exposure about Climate Change Information: Quantifies the frequency of exposure to climate information across various media platforms.
• Climate Change Anxiety: The primary outcome variable, assessing the psychological distress and functional impairment caused by climate concerns.

Validity

Formal validity data, such as construct validity (e.g., convergent or discriminant validity) or criterion validity, was not explicitly available in the provided source documentation. Future psychometric testing is necessary to fully establish the validity profile of the Climate Change—Model Inventory.

Reliability

The multi-item subscales within the inventory demonstrated strong internal consistency, confirming a high degree of interrelatedness among the items designed to measure each specific construct. Reliability coefficients, measured using Cronbach’s alpha, consistently ranged from

α

= 0.85 to

α

= 0.95. These values indicate excellent reliability across the measured dimensions, suggesting the scales are highly consistent in their measurement of the intended constructs.

Factor Analysis

Detailed information regarding the results of an exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis (EFA or CFA) to confirm the hypothesized factor structure of the 60 items was not available in the provided documentation.

Instrument

Test Type: Original Inventory/Questionnaire.

Format: The inventory consists of 60 items, with scoring scales varying depending on the subscale being measured:

• Climate change knowledge: Dichotomous scoring (Correct = 1; Incorrect = 0).
• Personal experience of climate change: 5-point Likert scale (Never (1) to Almost always (5)).
• Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): 4-point frequency scale (Never (1) to Nearly every day (4)).
• Climate change risk perception: Multiple 7-point scales (e.g., Not serious at all (1) to Very serious (7); Extremely unlikely (1) to Extremely likely (7)).
• Global warming worry: 5-point scale (Never (1) to Almost always (5)).
• Media exposure about climate change information: 9-point frequency scale (Never (1) to More than 10 times per day (9)).
• Climate change anxiety: 7-point scale (Never (1) to Almost always (7)).

Language Available: English.

Population Group: Human respondents, including Male and Female genders.

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years and older).

Population Details: The initial validation study focused on North American adults residing in Canada and the United States. Reported gender identities included Male, Female, Non-Binary/Third Gender, and Prefer Not to Say.

Test Methodology: The instrument’s development and evaluation involved rigorous assessment of Test Reliability and Internal Consistency within a defined Measurement Model framework.

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Keywords

Psychological Assessment, Environmental Psychology, Eco-anxiety, Climate Change Attitudes, Psychological Distress, Measurement Model.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Robert Gifford: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2764-3810

Affiliation Email addresses: Robert Gifford: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Robert Gifford: University of Victoria, Department of Psychology, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, V8W 2Y2, [email protected]

Affiliations:

• Zahra Asgarizadeh: University of Victoria, Department of Psychology
• Robert Gifford: University of Victoria, Department of Psychology
• Lauren Colborne: University of Victoria, Department of Psychology

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: The instrument may be used for Research/Teaching purposes.

Fee: No fee is required for use of the scale.

Test Year: 2023.

Reference’s

Asgarizadeh, Z., Gifford, R., & Colborne, L. (2023). Predicting climate change anxiety. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 90, 1–10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102087

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Items of the Climate Change–Model Inventory

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

This measure consists of 60 items, which are available. The instrument includes the following subscales:

• Climate change knowledge
• Personal experience of climate change
• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Climate change risk perception
• Global warming worry
• Media exposure about climate change information
• Climate change anxiety

Table 1

Climate Change Knowledge

Category	Item	Range
Physical knowledge	Burning fossil fuels produce CO2. At the same quantity CO2 is more harmful to the climate than methane.
Causes	The global concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased during the past 250 years. Climate change is mainly caused by human activities. The global increase in temperature over the last century was the largest for the past 1000 years. The level of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has occurred before in the past 650,000 years.	Correct (1) Incorrect (0)
Consequences	For the next few decades, the majority of climate scientists expect… a warmer climate to increase the melting of polar ice, which will lead to an overall rise of the sea level. the climate to change evenly all over the world. an increase in extreme events, such as droughts, floods and storms. a warmer climate to increase water evaporation, which will lead to an overall decrease of the sea level.
Action-related knowledge	Nuclear power plants emit CO2 during their operation.

Note: Adapted from (Tobler et al., 2012)

Table 2

Personal Experience with Climate Change Impacts

Item	Range
I have been directly affected by climate change.	Never (1) to Almost always (5)
I have known someone who has been directly affected by climate change.
I have noticed a change in a place that is important to me due to climate change.

Note: From (Clayton & Karaszia, 2020)

Table 3

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Item	Range
Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems from issues other than climate change?
Feeling nervous, anxious or on edge	Never (1) Nearly every day (4)
Not being able to stop or control worrying
Worrying too much about different things
Trouble relaxing
Being so restless that it is hard to sit still
Becoming easily annoyed or irritable
Feeling afraid as if something awful might happen

Note: from (Spitzer et al., 2006)

Table 4

Climate Change Risk Perception

Item	Range
How concerned are you about climate change?	Not concerned at all (1) to Very concerned (7)
In your judgment, how likely are you, sometime during your life, to experience serious threats to your health or overall well-being, as a result of climate change?	Extremely unlikely (1) to Extremely likely (7)
In your judgment, how likely do you think it is that climate change will have very harmful, long-term impacts on our society?
How serious of a threat do you think that climate change is to the natural environment?	Not serious at all (1) to Very serious (7)
How serious would you rate the current impacts of climate change around the world?
How serious of a threat do you believe that climate change is to you personally?
How serious would you estimate the impacts of climate change where you live?
How often do you worry about the potentially negative consequences of climate change?	Very rarely (1) to Very frequently (7)

Note: Adopted from (van der Linden, 2015)

Table 5

Climate Change Worry

Item	Range
How often are you worried about the following possible impacts of climate change?
Loss of human and animal life	Never (1) to Almost always (5)
Destruction of natural habitats
Negative societal effects and breakdown of civilization
Significant changes to weather and seasons
Negative impacts on myself and my significant others
Changes to oceans and other bodies of water
Irreversibility and uncertainty of timing
Negative impacts on humanity
Negative actions by other people
Consumerism and associated pollution

Note: Adapted from (Verplanken et al., 2020)

Table 6

Media Exposure About Climate Change Information

On average, how often do you read or hear about climate change from the following sources?

Sources	Ranges
TV or radio news/programs	Never (1)
Printed and online newspapers	Less often than once a week (2)
Social media platforms	Once a week (3)
YouTube	2 to 3 days per week (4)
Books and magazines	4 to 6 days per week (5)
Scientific articles	Once a day (6)
Blogs	2 to 5 times per day (7)
Family, friends, and colleagues	6 to 10 times per day (8)
	More than 10 times per day (9)

Table 7

Climate Change Anxiety

Item	Range
How often do the following things happen for you?
Thinking about climate change makes it difficult for me to concentrate.	Never (1) to Almost always (5)
Thinking about climate change makes it difficult for me to sleep.
I have nightmares about climate change.
I find myself crying because of climate change.
I think, “Why can’t I handle climate change better?”
I go away by myself and think about why I feel this way about climate change.
I write down my thoughts about climate change and analyze them.
I think, “Why do I react to climate change this way?”
My concerns about climate change make it hard for me to have fun with my family or friends.
I have problems balancing my concerns about sustainability with the needs of my family.
My concerns about climate change interfere with my ability to get work done.
My concerns about climate change undermine my ability to work to my potential.
My friends say I think about climate change too much.

Note: Adopted from (Clayton & Karaszia, 2020)