Some Slice of Climate Anxiety … Is Good: A Cross-Sectional Survey Exploring the Relationship Between College Students Media Exposure and Perceptions About Climate Change

Figures & data

Figure 1. Curvilinear relationship between climate anxiety and pro-environmental behavioral intentions.

Table A1. Descriptive table of demographics

Characteristic	N = 398
Education
Sophomore	179 (45%)
Junior	157 (40%)
Senior	47 (12%)
Freshman	13 (3.3%)
Graduate/Professional Degree	1 (0.25%)
Preferred to Not Answer	1 (0.25%)
Gender
Woman	265 (67%)
Man	117 (29%)
Prefer to self-describe	5 (1.3%)
Transgender	5 (1.3%)
Non-binary/third gender	4 (1.0%)
Prefer not to say	2 (0.5%)
Race/Ethnicity
White	277 (70%)
More than one	40 (10%)
Asian/Pacific Islander	30 (7.5%)
Hispanic/Latin(o/a/x)	28 (7.0%)
Black/African-American	15 (3.8%)
Other	6 (1.5%)
Native American/American Indian	2 (0.5%)
Political Affiliation
Somewhat Liberal	189 (48%)
Very Liberal	110 (28%)
Centrist	65 (16%)
Somewhat Conservative	24 (6.1%)
Very Conservative	7 (1.8%)
Preferred To Not Answer	3

Table A2. Means, standard deviations, and zero-order correlations with confidence intervals

Variable	M	SD	1	2	3	4	5
1. Attention to Media	2.73	0.94
2. Frequency of Media Use	4.45	1.73	.15**
			[.05, .24]
3. Climate Anxiety	2.04	0.60	.52**	.23**
			[.44, .59]	[.13, .32]
4. Self-Efficacy	2.95	1.05	.30**	.19**	.26**
			[.21, .39]	[.10, .29]	[.16, .35]
5. Collective Efficacy	3.22	1.00	.25**	.10*	.20**	.72**
			[.15, .34]	[.00, .20]	[.10, .29]	[.67, .76]
6. Pro-environmental Behavioral Intentions	3.43	0.82	.53**	.15**	.50**	.40**	.38**
			[.46, .60]	[.05, .25]	[.42, .57]	[.31, .48]	[.29, .46]

Note. M and SD are used to represent mean and standard deviation, respectively. α; Cronbach’s Alpha. Values in square brackets indicate the 95% confidence interval for each correlation. * indicates p < .05. ** indicates p < .01. Frequency of media use was measured on an eight-point scale. All other variables are on five-point scales.

Table A3. Robust linear regressions with climate anxiety as the dependent variable

	Model 1 w/o covariates	Model 2 with covariates
Predictors	Standardized beta	Standardized beta
(Intercept)	−0.03	−0.92
Frequency of Media Use	0.05 **	0.05**
Attention to News	0.34**	0.29**
†Political Affiliation		−0.09**
†Education Levels		−0.11**
Age		0.05
Ethnicity (White = 1)		0.01
Gender (Female = 1)		0.20**
R^2	0.333	0.387
R^2 adjusted	0.330	0.376
Robust SE	0.458	0.458

Note. * indicates p < .05. ** indicates p < .01.

†Political Affiliation and Education Levels were measured as interval variables

Table A4. Robust r.egressions with pro-environmental behavioral intentions as the criterion

	Model 1 w/o covariates	Model 2 with covariates
Predictor	Standardized beta	Standardized Beta
(Intercept)	0.16 **	0.32
Climate Anxiety	0.78**	0.61**
+Climate Anxiety (Squared)	−0.36**	−0.22*
†Political Affiliation		−0.31**
Education Levels		−0.02
Age		0.04
Gender (Female = 1)		0.06
Ethnicity (White = 1)		0.09
R^2	0.299	0.402
R^2 adjusted	0.295	0.391
Robust SE	0.681	0.633

Standardized beta is reported, * indicates p < .05. * indicates p < .01. +Political Affiliation was measured as an interval (1=Liberal, 5 = Conservative) + Climate Anxiety squared represents the polynomial (quadratic) term.

Table A5. Robust regressions with pro-environmental behavioral intentions as dependent variable

	Model 1w/o covariates	Model 2with covariates
Predictors	Standardized beta	Standardized beta
(Intercept)	2.24**	3.25**
Self-Efficacy	0.20**	0.20**
Collective efficacy	0.19**	0.13**
Ethnicity (White = 1)		0.13
Age		−0.01
Gender Binary (Female = 1)		−0.00
Education Levels		−0.00
†Political Affiliation		−0.36**
R^2	0.204	0.369
R^2 adjusted	0.199	0.358
Robust SE	0.713	0.644

Note. Standardized betas are reported * indicates p < .05. ** indicates p < .01. SE= Standard Error

†Political Affiliation and Education Levels were measured as interval variables

Data availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in the OSF repository (https://osf.io/pndaw/?view_only=19e04c842d8645a5be77619845b6aaa2)