Anticipatory solastalgia in the Antipodes: Evidence of future-oriented distress about environmental change in Australia and New Zealand
Introduction: Lived experience of negative environmental change can evoke distress called ‘solastalgia’. Worldwide, people are reporting emotional challenges relating to awareness of current and continued environmental decline, even without a direct experience of climate change. Our research examine...
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Elsevier
2025-05-01
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| Series: | The Journal of Climate Change and Health |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667278225000057 |
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| author | Samantha K. Stanley Omid Ghasemi Robert M. Ross John R. Kerr Mathew D. Marques Niels G. Mede Sebastian Berger Mark Alfano Neil Levy Marinus Ferreira Viktoria Cologna |
| author_facet | Samantha K. Stanley Omid Ghasemi Robert M. Ross John R. Kerr Mathew D. Marques Niels G. Mede Sebastian Berger Mark Alfano Neil Levy Marinus Ferreira Viktoria Cologna |
| author_sort | Samantha K. Stanley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction: Lived experience of negative environmental change can evoke distress called ‘solastalgia’. Worldwide, people are reporting emotional challenges relating to awareness of current and continued environmental decline, even without a direct experience of climate change. Our research examines the measurement of anticipatory solastalgia: the experience of present distress about expected environmental change. Methods: Our preregistered research uses survey samples from Australia (n = 1450) and New Zealand (n = 1022) to validate a recently developed five-item Anticipatory Solastalgia Scale (the ANSOS). We also measured participants’ experiences of climate emotions, expectations of the increased severity of climate-related weather disasters, and support for climate policy. Results: The ANSOS fits the data well, is invariant across these two countries, and shows good internal consistency. Supporting convergent validity, the more that participants reported experiencing anticipatory solastalgia, the more intensely they reported feeling negative emotions about climate change. ANSOS scores were higher among those who expected more severe future impacts from climate-related weather disasters, and positively related to support for policies that aim to address climate change. Conclusion: The study adds further evidence for the validity of the anticipatory solastalgia scale; a measure that is designed to facilitate understanding of people's distress responses to the expectations of, and emotional engagement with, environmental threats as the climate changes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-680e124b098a4de083906013d2772222 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2667-2782 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Journal of Climate Change and Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-680e124b098a4de083906013d27722222025-08-20T03:30:31ZengElsevierThe Journal of Climate Change and Health2667-27822025-05-012310041510.1016/j.joclim.2025.100415Anticipatory solastalgia in the Antipodes: Evidence of future-oriented distress about environmental change in Australia and New ZealandSamantha K. Stanley0Omid Ghasemi1Robert M. Ross2John R. Kerr3Mathew D. Marques4Niels G. Mede5Sebastian Berger6Mark Alfano7Neil Levy8Marinus Ferreira9Viktoria Cologna10UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response, University of New South Wales; School of Psychology, University of New South Wales; School of Medicine and Psychology, The Australian National University; Corresponding author.UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response, University of New South Wales; School of Psychology, University of New South WalesDepartment of Philosophy, Macquarie UniversityDepartment of Public Health, University of OtagoSchool of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe UniversityDepartment of Communication and Media Research, University of ZurichInstitute of Sociology, University BernDepartment of Philosophy, Macquarie UniversityDepartment of Philosophy, Macquarie University; Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of OxfordDepartment of Philosophy, Macquarie UniversityCollegium Helveticum, ETH ZurichIntroduction: Lived experience of negative environmental change can evoke distress called ‘solastalgia’. Worldwide, people are reporting emotional challenges relating to awareness of current and continued environmental decline, even without a direct experience of climate change. Our research examines the measurement of anticipatory solastalgia: the experience of present distress about expected environmental change. Methods: Our preregistered research uses survey samples from Australia (n = 1450) and New Zealand (n = 1022) to validate a recently developed five-item Anticipatory Solastalgia Scale (the ANSOS). We also measured participants’ experiences of climate emotions, expectations of the increased severity of climate-related weather disasters, and support for climate policy. Results: The ANSOS fits the data well, is invariant across these two countries, and shows good internal consistency. Supporting convergent validity, the more that participants reported experiencing anticipatory solastalgia, the more intensely they reported feeling negative emotions about climate change. ANSOS scores were higher among those who expected more severe future impacts from climate-related weather disasters, and positively related to support for policies that aim to address climate change. Conclusion: The study adds further evidence for the validity of the anticipatory solastalgia scale; a measure that is designed to facilitate understanding of people's distress responses to the expectations of, and emotional engagement with, environmental threats as the climate changes.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667278225000057Climate emotionsSolastalgiaAnticipatory emotionsClimate policyScale validationEnvironmental change |
| spellingShingle | Samantha K. Stanley Omid Ghasemi Robert M. Ross John R. Kerr Mathew D. Marques Niels G. Mede Sebastian Berger Mark Alfano Neil Levy Marinus Ferreira Viktoria Cologna Anticipatory solastalgia in the Antipodes: Evidence of future-oriented distress about environmental change in Australia and New Zealand The Journal of Climate Change and Health Climate emotions Solastalgia Anticipatory emotions Climate policy Scale validation Environmental change |
| title | Anticipatory solastalgia in the Antipodes: Evidence of future-oriented distress about environmental change in Australia and New Zealand |
| title_full | Anticipatory solastalgia in the Antipodes: Evidence of future-oriented distress about environmental change in Australia and New Zealand |
| title_fullStr | Anticipatory solastalgia in the Antipodes: Evidence of future-oriented distress about environmental change in Australia and New Zealand |
| title_full_unstemmed | Anticipatory solastalgia in the Antipodes: Evidence of future-oriented distress about environmental change in Australia and New Zealand |
| title_short | Anticipatory solastalgia in the Antipodes: Evidence of future-oriented distress about environmental change in Australia and New Zealand |
| title_sort | anticipatory solastalgia in the antipodes evidence of future oriented distress about environmental change in australia and new zealand |
| topic | Climate emotions Solastalgia Anticipatory emotions Climate policy Scale validation Environmental change |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667278225000057 |
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