Relationship among Big-5 Personality Factors, Eco-Anxiety, and Eco-guilt among Young Adults

Abstract

With ecological deterioration and climate change happening at a rapid pace, it becomes important to understand the psychological consequences of these changes. Eco-anxiety and eco-guilt are two of the many variables which can help us understand this. As personality can influence how we react to situations, therefore, studying its relationship with eco-anxiety and eco-guilt can help. The current research aimed to study the relationship among Eco-anxiety, Eco-guilt and Big-5 personality factors in 20–30-year-olds. The data was collected from 31 respondents between the ages of 20-30 years. Standardized scales were used to measure big-5 personality factors, eco- anxiety and eco-guilt. The results showed a significant positive correlation between one of the five personality factors, that is conscientiousness and eco-guilt and conscientiousness, and one of the two factors used to measure eco-anxiety, that is, habitual ecological worry. A significant positive correlation was also found between eco-guilt and both the factors of eco-anxiety that is habitual ecological worry and negative consequences of anxiety. Further research needs to be conducted to find out if these results are of any significance in developing interventions for psychological effects of climate change and ecological deterioration.