The relationship between perception of environmental crisis severity and ecological anxiety

The gap

Evidence profile

Sourced from the future-work section and synthesized and recommendations of the source papers, classified as general, drawn from work published between 2022 and 2026, spanning 5 journals. Those papers have been cited 125 times in total.

Supporting evidence — 5 representative gaps

• Well-being and mental health in university students: a cross-sectional group comparison in the context of a campus sustainability strategy (2026) · Frontiers in Education · doi

  Future studies may aim to examine the causal relationships between campus sustainability strategies and students' mental health and well-being. Longitudinal designs may be used to examine the effects of sustainability strategies over time. The development of interventions aimed at promoting healthy eating behaviors and reducing stress, anxiety, and depression among university students may be informed by the study's findings.

  generalfuture-work sectionevidence 5/5
  Keywords: future studies aim examine causal relationships between campus
• Eco-Anxiety in Children and Young People – A Rational Response, Irreconcilable Despair, or Both? (2024) · The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child · cited 45× · doi

  Ecological anxiety in adolescents and young adults has not been examined through an ecological systems framework that integrates multiple environmental levels (individual, relational, institutional, societal) as interacting sources of distress. Prior work on eco-anxiety describes the phenomenon clinically but does not systematically model how child-environment interactions across nested ecological contexts generate or maintain this anxiety.

  generalsynthesizedevidence 5/5
  Keywords: ecological anxiety adolescents young adults has been examined
• The role of anxiety and gender in anticipation and avoidance of naturalistic anxiety‐provoking experiences during adolescence: An ecological momentary assessment study (2022) · JCPP Advances · cited 15× · doi

  Ecological anxiety in young people has been studied through clinical and qualitative frameworks, but no study has applied ecological momentary assessment (EMA) or real-time experience sampling to capture how ecological worry fluctuates across naturalistic daily contexts and situations in adolescents or young adults.

  generalsynthesizedevidence 5/5
  Keywords: ecological anxiety young people has been studied through
• The influence of environmental crisis perception and trait anxiety on the level of eco-worry and climate anxiety (2023) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · cited 65× · doi

  The relationship between perception of environmental crisis severity and ecological anxiety in adolescents and young adults has been examined in one study, but no research has tested whether interventions targeting cognitive factors (e.g., intolerance of uncertainty, cognitive restructuring) reduce ecological anxiety or whether such interventions differ in effectiveness from those for clinical anxiety disorders.

  generalsynthesizedevidence 5/5
  Keywords: relationship between perception environmental crisis severity ecological anxiety
• Impact of Personality Traits and Pro-Environmental Behaviours on Eco-Anxiety Among University Students (2026) · European Journal of Psychology and Educational Research · doi

  ASAMOAH-GYAWU ET AL. / Personality Traits & Pro-Environmental Behaviours on Eco- Anxiety of Students Academic counsellors should design personalised interventions that account for individual personality traits. For instance, resilience-building programmes could be targeted at students with high levels of neuroticism to strengthen their ability to regulate emotional responses to environmental threats. For extraverted individuals, interventions might focus on directing their social energy and engagement towards constructive environmental action. In addition, mental health service providers should establish counselling and support systems that directly address eco-anxiety, with particular attention to undergraduate populations. Tailored resources can assist students in managing their emotional responses to climate change and in developing healthier coping mechanisms. Policymakers for universities should recognise eco-anxiety as a critical consideration in climate-related strategies. Initiatives that acknowledge the psychological impacts of climate change on young people, particularly undergraduates, are more likely to strengthen the effectiveness of environmental campaigns while simultaneously enhancing mental

  generalrecommendationsevidence 5/5
  Keywords: environmental anxiety students climate personality traits interventions strengthen emotional responses mental change asamoah gyawu behaviours

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