Climate change and daily wellbeing: The role of environmental, governmental, and commute-related stressors

While the effect of climate change on the environment, economy, and chronic health is increasingly evident, its impact on everyday wellbeing remains relatively less understood. This study investigated how environmental, governmental, and commute-related stressors relate to everyday wellbeing. We hyp...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Monika Lohani, Jamie S. Elsey, Sam Dutton, Lynne Zummo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-12-01
Series:Cogent Mental Health
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/28324765.2025.2539201
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849228873857761280
author Monika Lohani
Jamie S. Elsey
Sam Dutton
Lynne Zummo
author_facet Monika Lohani
Jamie S. Elsey
Sam Dutton
Lynne Zummo
author_sort Monika Lohani
collection DOAJ
description While the effect of climate change on the environment, economy, and chronic health is increasingly evident, its impact on everyday wellbeing remains relatively less understood. This study investigated how environmental, governmental, and commute-related stressors relate to everyday wellbeing. We hypothesized that the presence of these daily stressors would be linked to experiences of higher negative affect. To capture individuals’ daily experiences in an ecologically valid manner, experience sampling methodology was adopted. Over the course of a day, participants were randomly prompted once within every hour (a total of 10 prompts) to report their negative affect and encounters with specified daily stressors. The environmental, governmental, and commute-related stressors were linked to higher negative affect. Environmental stressors were uniquely associated with worse daily wellbeing after accounting for health stressors. Environmental stressors also interacted with other governmental stressors. Particularly, the experience of both environmental and governmental stressors was cumulatively associated with significantly higher negative affect, compared to either one of these stressors being absent. These findings highlight the connection between environmental stressors with governmental and health stressors and the daily toll these stressors can have on individuals’ everyday wellbeing. This work emphasizes the importance of addressing complex stressors relevant to climate change vulnerabilities.
format Article
id doaj-art-707d186dda244b2eabcba4a64f4d83c2
institution Kabale University
issn 2832-4765
language English
publishDate 2025-12-01
publisher Taylor & Francis Group
record_format Article
series Cogent Mental Health
spelling doaj-art-707d186dda244b2eabcba4a64f4d83c22025-08-22T14:39:15ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Mental Health2832-47652025-12-014112410.1080/28324765.2025.2539201Climate change and daily wellbeing: The role of environmental, governmental, and commute-related stressorsMonika Lohani0Jamie S. Elsey1Sam Dutton2Lynne Zummo3Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USADepartment of Educational Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USADepartment of Educational Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USANatural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USAWhile the effect of climate change on the environment, economy, and chronic health is increasingly evident, its impact on everyday wellbeing remains relatively less understood. This study investigated how environmental, governmental, and commute-related stressors relate to everyday wellbeing. We hypothesized that the presence of these daily stressors would be linked to experiences of higher negative affect. To capture individuals’ daily experiences in an ecologically valid manner, experience sampling methodology was adopted. Over the course of a day, participants were randomly prompted once within every hour (a total of 10 prompts) to report their negative affect and encounters with specified daily stressors. The environmental, governmental, and commute-related stressors were linked to higher negative affect. Environmental stressors were uniquely associated with worse daily wellbeing after accounting for health stressors. Environmental stressors also interacted with other governmental stressors. Particularly, the experience of both environmental and governmental stressors was cumulatively associated with significantly higher negative affect, compared to either one of these stressors being absent. These findings highlight the connection between environmental stressors with governmental and health stressors and the daily toll these stressors can have on individuals’ everyday wellbeing. This work emphasizes the importance of addressing complex stressors relevant to climate change vulnerabilities.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/28324765.2025.2539201Daily stressclimate changeclimatic stressorsnon-climatic stressorsexperience sampling methodology
spellingShingle Monika Lohani
Jamie S. Elsey
Sam Dutton
Lynne Zummo
Climate change and daily wellbeing: The role of environmental, governmental, and commute-related stressors
Cogent Mental Health
Daily stress
climate change
climatic stressors
non-climatic stressors
experience sampling methodology
title Climate change and daily wellbeing: The role of environmental, governmental, and commute-related stressors
title_full Climate change and daily wellbeing: The role of environmental, governmental, and commute-related stressors
title_fullStr Climate change and daily wellbeing: The role of environmental, governmental, and commute-related stressors
title_full_unstemmed Climate change and daily wellbeing: The role of environmental, governmental, and commute-related stressors
title_short Climate change and daily wellbeing: The role of environmental, governmental, and commute-related stressors
title_sort climate change and daily wellbeing the role of environmental governmental and commute related stressors
topic Daily stress
climate change
climatic stressors
non-climatic stressors
experience sampling methodology
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/28324765.2025.2539201
work_keys_str_mv AT monikalohani climatechangeanddailywellbeingtheroleofenvironmentalgovernmentalandcommuterelatedstressors
AT jamieselsey climatechangeanddailywellbeingtheroleofenvironmentalgovernmentalandcommuterelatedstressors
AT samdutton climatechangeanddailywellbeingtheroleofenvironmentalgovernmentalandcommuterelatedstressors
AT lynnezummo climatechangeanddailywellbeingtheroleofenvironmentalgovernmentalandcommuterelatedstressors