Anxiety and climate change: a validation of the Climate Anxiety Scale in a German-speaking quota sample and an investigation of psychological correlates

AbstractThe climate crisis is an unprecedented existential threat that causes disturbing emotions, such as anxiety. Recently, Clayton and Karazsia measured climate anxiety as “a more clinically significant ‘anxious’ response to climate change” (2020, p. 9). To gain a more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon from an empirical psychological perspective, we translated the core of the Climate Anxiety Scale into German and assessed potential correlates in a large German-speaking quota sample (N = 1011, stratified by age and gender). Overall, people reported low levels of climate anxiety. Climate anxiety correlated positively with general anxiety and depressiveness, avoidance of climate change in everyday life, frustration of basic psychological needs, pro-environmental behavioral intentions, and policy support. It correlated negatively with different forms of climate denial and was unrelated to ideological beliefs. We were not able to replicate the two dimensions found in the original scale. Moreover, we argue that items appear to measure a general climate-related emotional impairment, rather than distinctly and comprehensively capturing climate anxiety. Thus, we encourage researchers to rework the scale and include an emotional factor in future research efforts.

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Anxiety and Climate Change: A Validation of the Climate Anxiety Scale in a German-Speaking Quota Sample and an Investigation of Psychological Correlates

10.31234/osf.io/76ez2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marlis Wullenkord ◽

Josephine Tröger ◽

Karen R.S. Hamann ◽

Laura Loy ◽

Gerhard Reese

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Well Being ◽

Psychological Needs ◽

Basic Psychological Needs ◽

Anxiety Scale ◽

Future Research ◽

Emotional Factor ◽

German Speaking ◽

Protective Strategies ◽

And Gender

The climate crisis is an unprecedented existential threat that causes disturbing emotions, such as anxiety. However, relatively little is known about how people cope with climate anxiety, how it influences mental health and well-being, and whether it is relevant for climate (in)action. Recently, Clayton and Karazsia measured climate anxiety as a “clinically significant anxious response to climate change” (2020, p. 9) that may impair human well-being and functioning. To gain a more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon from an empirical psychological perspective, we translated the Climate Anxiety Scale into German and assessed potential correlates in a large German-speaking quota sample (N=1011, stratified by age and gender). Overall, people reported low levels of climate anxiety. Climate anxiety correlated positively with anxiety and depressiveness, avoidance of climate change in everyday life, and the frustration of basic psychological needs. It correlated negatively with climate-relevant self-protective strategies and denial. While unrelated to ideological beliefs, stronger climate anxiety was associated with pro-environmental intentions and support for climate policies. We were not able to replicate the scale’s original factor structure. Thus, we encourage researchers to rework the scale and include an emotional factor in future research efforts.

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The need for cognition within the academic motivation space

Zbornik Instituta za pedagoska istrazivanja ◽

10.2298/zipi1701007v ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 49 (1) ◽

pp. 7-30

Author(s):

Aleksandar Vasic

Keyword(s):

Academic Motivation ◽

Need For Cognition ◽

Self Determination Theory ◽

Psychological Needs ◽

Basic Psychological Needs ◽

The Self ◽

Self Determination ◽

Future Research ◽

Internal Motivation ◽

Cognition Scale

The self-determination theory presumes several types of motivation distributed along the theoretical continuum. On the other side, certain research studies point to the need for cognition which is the source of internal motivation, as one of the aforementioned types of motivation. This theoretical and conceptual closeness served as an impetus for the research conducted on the convenient sample of 364 students of both genders (59% of female respondents), aged 18 to 35 (M=20.05; SD=1.52). In generating the data, the Academic Motivation Scale for Students (AMS-SI) and the shortened version of the Need for Cognition Scale (NFCS-S) were used. During data analysis, we first checked the internal metric characteristics of the scales and quantitatively defined the features measured by these instruments. In locating the need for cognition within the academic motivation space, hierarchical multiple regression analysis and multidimensional scaling were used. Four valid and reliable dimensions of student academic motivation were defined as internal, introjected and external motivation, and amotivation. One dominant, reliable and valid main subject of measuring of the need for cognition scale was defined as well. In the common space of academic motivation and the need for cognition, internal motivation clearly stands out as the basic correlate of this need. Future research should further reexamine the assumption of the self-determination theory about three basic psychological needs vital for the development of motivation.

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Value Consistency across Relational Roles and Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Self-Concept Clarity

Social Sciences ◽

10.3390/socsci10080291 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 291

Author(s):

Claudia Russo ◽

Daniela Barni ◽

Ioana Zagrean ◽

Francesca Danioni

Keyword(s):

Personal Identity ◽

Psychological Needs ◽

Basic Psychological Needs ◽

Self Concept ◽

Future Research ◽

Mediating Role ◽

Needs Satisfaction ◽

Satisfaction Subscale ◽

Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction

Living in today’s complex social world can contribute to the development of a multi-faceted personal identity and to the risk of identity dispersion. This study focused on values, which are conceptualised as the core of one’s personal identity. It aimed to explore the within-person value consistency across relational roles (i.e., relationships with parents, partners, and friends) and to analyse the association between value consistency, self-concept clarity, and basic psychological needs satisfaction. One hundred ninety-five Italian young adults (F = 85%; Mage = 26.65, SD = 3.83) participated in the study. They completed the Values in Context Questionnaire, the Self-Concept Clarity Scale, and the satisfaction subscale from the Basic Needs Satisfaction and Frustration Scale. Findings showed high value consistencies across the relational roles. Specifically, consistency is higher when values as a partner and values as a friend are considered. Moreover, the relation between value consistency and basic psychological needs satisfaction was fully mediated by self-concept clarity. Limitations of the study, future research developments, and practical implications of the results are discussed.

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Exploring Proximal LGBTQ+ Minority Stressors within Physical Activity Contexts From a Self-Determination Theory Perspective

10.21203/rs.3.rs-41434/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Shannon Herrick ◽

Meredith A. Rocchi ◽

Shane N. Sweet ◽

Lindsay R. Duncan

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Self Determination Theory ◽

Psychological Needs ◽

Need Satisfaction ◽

Basic Psychological Needs ◽

Self Determination ◽

Future Research ◽

Willingness To Participate ◽

Cross Sectional Survey

Abstract Background: LGBTQ+ individuals experience challenges such as discrimination and marginalization (referred to as minority stressors) that are detrimental to their mental and physical health. Specifically, proximal or internalized LGBTQ+ minority stressors may influence motivation for and willingness to participate in physical activity. Methods: The purpose of this study was to explore whether proximal LGBTQ+ minority stressors, as indicators of the social-environmental context, would relate to the basic psychological needs—motivation—physical activity pathway, as per self-determination theory. An online cross-sectional survey was completed by 778 LGBTQ+ adults. Results: Results from structural equation modelling analyses support that proximal LGBTQ+ minority stressors are associated with decreased reported need satisfaction (β = -.36) which, in turn, is associated with autonomous motivation (β = .53) and reported physical activity participation (β = .32). Conclusions: Future research focused on increasing LGBTQ+ participation in physical activity should investigate the effects of (a) reducing proximal LGBTQ+ minority stressors, and (b) better supporting LGBTQ+ adults’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness within physical activity contexts.

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Investigation of the Association between Video Game Usage, Personality, Psychological Needs, and Wellbeing

10.26686/wgtn.17147894.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Florian Flueggen

Keyword(s):

Video Game ◽

Computer Games ◽

Real Life ◽

Psychological Needs ◽

Basic Psychological Needs ◽

Game Studies ◽

Future Research ◽

Key Factor ◽

Real Life Situation ◽

Key Aspects

<p>Playing computer games has often been theorised to be linked to the wellbeing of users. However, the variables involved and the relationships and interactions between them have not been established. The purpose of the present study was to investigate, whether there are core aspects of game usage that are related to increased or decreased wellbeing, and the extent to which these depend on players’ real-life situations. The project comprised three studies and used an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. In the first study, the ways in which players use games were investigated. To identify the key aspects of game usage for distinguishing and describing how players use games, in-depth interviews were conducted with 23 players of different games. This data and two subsequent quantitative tests, the first with 314 participants and the second with 770 participants, were used to develop a game-usage questionnaire and a framework with eight factors. The relationship between game usage and wellbeing was investigated in a longitudinal study conducted over nine months with 531 participants. Personality – as proxy for internal characteristics – and basic psychological needs – as proxy for participants’ situations in life – were taken into account as potential moderators of that relationship. Results showed that the overall correlations between game usage and wellbeing are weak and subsumed by players’ needs and personality. However, there were interactions between game usage and needs: Some game usage factors seem to directly reflect real-life situations and wellbeing; others seem to be common responses to real-life situations with no impact on wellbeing; and others again appear to impact wellbeing depending on the real-life situation. Social game usage seems to be a key factor with relevance for wellbeing. The contribution of this thesis is twofold. It provides a general framework of game usage that can be used in the field of game studies to interpret and compare findings more meaningfully, and it was shown that it is important to consider a person’s game usage in context of their real-life situations. In addition, main game usage factors for future research on wellbeing and digital games are suggested.</p>

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Adaptation and Validation of a Portuguese Version of the Sports Motivation Scale-II (SMS-II-P) Showing Invariance for Gender and Sport Type

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.1177/00315125211039362 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 003151252110393

Author(s):

F. Rodrigues ◽

L. Pelletier ◽

M. Rocchi ◽

L. Cid ◽

D. Teixeira ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Discriminant Validity ◽

Psychological Needs ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Basic Psychological Needs ◽

Future Research ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Portuguese Version ◽

Convergent And Discriminant Validity ◽

Sport Type ◽

Motivation Scale

In the present cross-sectional study, we adapted and examined the validity of a Portuguese version of the Sport Motivation Scale II (SMS-II-P) within a sample of 1148 Portuguese athletes (women = 546, men = 602) with a mean age of 18.45 years ( SD = 5.36), participating in a variety of sports (i.e., football, basketball, swimming, and athletics). We conducted confirmatory factor analysis, convergent and discriminant validity analysis, and multigroup analysis across participants’ sport type (team and individual) and gender. We also examined the correlations between the SMS-II-P behavioral regulations and basic psychological needs satisfaction. The results supported that the SMS-II-P had good psychometric properties and was invariant across gender and sport type. The scale demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity, and the subscales achieved adequate internal consistency. Correlations between the six types of regulation measured in the SMS-II supported the distinction between autonomous and controlled behavioral regulations, and the correlations between these subscales and other measures of autonomy, competence, and relatedness satisfaction provided evidence of the self-determination continuum. Implications of this research for assessing Portuguese athletes and conducting future research are discussed.

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Current surveys may underestimate climate change skepticism evidence from list experiments in Germany and the USA

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0251034 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (7) ◽

pp. e0251034

Author(s):

Liam F. Beiser-McGrath ◽

Thomas Bernauer

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

United States ◽

Public Support ◽

The United States ◽

Policy Support ◽

Future Research ◽

Public Concern ◽

Public Opinion Surveys ◽

Climate Change Mitigation Policy ◽

The Usa

Strong public support is a prerequisite for ambitious and thus costly climate change mitigation policy, and strong public concern over climate change is a prerequisite for policy support. Why, then, do most public opinion surveys indicate rather high levels of concern and rather strong policy support, while de facto mitigation efforts in most countries remain far from ambitious? One possibility is that survey measures for public concern fail to fully reveal the true attitudes of citizens due to social desirability bias. In this paper, we implemented list-experiments in representative surveys in Germany and the United States (N = 3620 and 3640 respectively) to assess such potential bias. We find evidence that people systematically misreport, that is, understate their disbelief in human caused climate change. This misreporting is particularly strong amongst politically relevant subgroups. Individuals in the top 20% of the income distribution in the United States and supporters of conservative parties in Germany exhibit significantly higher climate change skepticism according to the list experiment, relative to conventional measures. While this does not definitively mean that climate skepticism is a widespread phenomenon in these countries, it does suggest that future research should reconsider how climate change concern is measured, and what subgroups of the population are more susceptible to misreporting and why. Our findings imply that public support for ambitious climate policy may be weaker than existing survey research suggests.

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MOTIVATION IN LEARNING MUSICAL INSTRUMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY

Knowledge International Journal ◽

10.35120/kij28031063a ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 1063-1067

Author(s):

Anastas Mihaylov

Keyword(s):

Music Education ◽

Extrinsic Motivation ◽

Theoretical Foundation ◽

Self Determination Theory ◽

Musical Instrument ◽

Psychological Needs ◽

Basic Psychological Needs ◽

Self Determination ◽

Future Research ◽

Human Motivation

The relation between motivation and education is a subject of numerous different researches. In spite of that there is a lack of overall concept giving a solid theoretical foundation for building motivation of learning musical instrument. The aim of the article is to fill the gap presenting an overview of a Self-determination theory (SDT) as an approach to building a stable motivation in music education. As a contemporary macro theory of motivation SDT examines the nature and sources of human motivation. Article describes the key components of the theory- notion of basic psychological needs, the concept of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Relation of motivation with autonomy, competence and relatedness is also discussed. The study puts accent on transformation of the extrinsic into intrinsic motivation, the stages of that process and the application of Self-determination theory in musical education. Results are presented as the basis for future research in the field focusing on perspectives for creating a model for building a stable motivation of learning musical instrument.

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Supporting students with coaching or training depending on their basic psychological needs

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education ◽

10.1108/ijmce-08-2020-0050 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Sandra Julia Diller ◽

Christina Muehlberger ◽

Isabell Braumandl ◽

Eva Jonas

Keyword(s):

University Students ◽

Personal Development ◽

Goal Attainment ◽

Real Life ◽

Psychological Needs ◽

Basic Psychological Needs ◽

Future Research ◽

Content Type ◽

Development Tool ◽

Coaching Training

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how university students' basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness) determine whether coaching or training is more supportive for them.Design/methodology/approachReal-life coaching (N1 = 110) and training (N2 = 176) processes with students as clients were examined, measuring the students' needs before the coaching/training, their need fulfilment after the coaching/training and their satisfaction and goal attainment/intrinsic motivation after the coaching/training.FindingsThe results show that university students with a higher autonomy need had this need fulfilled to a greater extent through coaching, while university students with a higher competence need had this need fulfilled to a greater extent through training.Research limitations/implicationsThe research focused on university students and was conducted at German-speaking universities, so it is unclear to what extent the findings are transferable to other contexts. In addition, future research is needed to further compare other personal development tools, such as mentoring or consulting.Practical implicationsThe results depict the relevance of the most appropriate personal development tool (coaching or training) depending on students' needs. Furthermore, coaches should be autonomy-supportive, while trainers should be competence-supportive.Originality/valueSupporting students with the most appropriate personal development tool is essential for the effectiveness of this tool. Thus, the personal development tool used should reflect students' needs: students with a high autonomy need should receive coaching, while students with a high competence need should receive training.

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A Review of Self-Determination Theory’s Basic Psychological Needs at Work

Journal of Management ◽

10.1177/0149206316632058 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 42 (5) ◽

pp. 1195-1229 ◽

Cited By ~ 200

Author(s):

Anja Van den Broeck ◽

D. Lance Ferris ◽

Chu-Hsiang Chang ◽

Christopher C. Rosen

Keyword(s):

Well Being ◽

Psychological Needs ◽

Need Satisfaction ◽

Basic Psychological Needs ◽

Self Determination ◽

Future Research ◽

Psychological Growth ◽

Psychological Need ◽

Analytic Review ◽

Antecedents And Consequences

Self-determination theory (SDT) conceptualizes basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness as innate and essential for ongoing psychological growth, internalization, and well-being. We broadly review the literature on basic psychological need satisfaction at work with three more specific aims: to test SDT’s requirement that each basic psychological need should uniquely predict psychological growth, internalization, and well-being; to test whether use of an overall need satisfaction measure is appropriate; and to test whether the scale used to assess basic psychological needs influenced our results. To this end, we conducted a meta-analytic review of 99 studies with 119 distinct samples examining the antecedents and consequences of basic need satisfaction. We conclude with recommendations for addressing issues arising from our review and also identify points for future research, including the study of need frustration and culture, integrating the basic needs with other motivation theories, and a caution regarding the measures and methods used.

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