Climate anxiety among middle-aged and older city dwellers: Multi-city quantification and stratification by demographic, socioeconomic, and contextual factors

Studies in climate psychology have quantified climate anxiety, but none of them has focused on older adults. Research has explored demographic and socioeconomic predictors of climate anxiety; nonetheless, no study has considered environmental or contextual factors that may explain climate anxiety in older adults. This study, therefore, quantified climate anxiety, stratified it by demographic, socioeconomic, and contextual factors, and explored its predictors. A cross-sectional design with sensitivity analyses was employed, and data were collected from 3994 older residents of seven Ghanaian cities: Accra, Kumasi, Cape Coast, Tamale, Ho, Koforidua, and Wa. Climate anxiety was quantified using the Climate Anxiety Scale (CAS) and stratified using the Analysis of Variance, Analysis of Covariance, and t-test. Multiple linear regression was utilised to assess demographic predictors of climate anxiety. Climate anxiety was higher than previous levels found in the general population with the CAS and differed between cities. The highest climate anxiety was in Tamale and the Savanna. Predictors of climate anxiety include climate change awareness, not having a chronic disease, older age, climate change awareness, and full-time work. Climate anxiety differed between demographic, socioeconomic, and environmental categorisations. Research investigating whether climate anxiety changes with time is needed.