Eco-anxiety among older adults in New Zealand — The Association Specialists
  1. Schedule
  2. Oral Presentations - Climate, environment and human health 1
  3. Eco-anxiety among older adults in New Zealand

Eco-anxiety among older adults in New Zealand (23779)

Monica Garrett 1 , Linda Murray 1 , Susanne Röhr 2 3
  1. School of Health Sciences, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
  2. Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
  3. Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW, Sydney, Australia

Background: The triple planetary crisis represents three substantial anthropogenic threats to biodiversity and the natural environment. The implications of these crises on population mental health are being increasingly recognised although, currently, much research focuses on younger generations. The concept of ‘eco-anxiety’ explores the extent to which people experience signs and symptoms suggestive of anxiety in response to threats to the natural environment. In this study, we explore the prevalence and associated social determinants of eco-anxiety in older adults in New Zealand.

 

Methods: This study used secondary data from the New Zealand Health, Work and Retirement (NZHWR) Study – a nationally representative sample of older adults (aged 55 and over) living in New Zealand. The Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale (HEAS-13) was introduced to the NZHWR Study in the 2024/25 wave of the study. This research performed quantitative analysis exploring the relationship between eco-anxiety and sociodemographic variables.

 

Results: 5201 participants completed the HEAS-13. Most participants experienced mild eco-anxiety (47.5%) or no eco-anxiety (46.8%). Only 0.8% experienced severe eco-anxiety. Of the four dimensions of the HEAS-13, rumination symptoms were the most frequently reported and behavioural symptoms were the least. Bivariate analyses found a small increase in eco-anxiety with age and higher-eco anxiety amongst women, participants of Māori descent and participants who were born overseas or live in more deprived areas. Eco-anxiety also tended to be greater among the lowest and highest educational attainment groups.

 

Conclusion: Eco-anxiety is an emerging research area, and this is the first quantification of eco-anxiety among older adults in New Zealand. Eco-anxiety has implications for the uptake of pro-environmental behaviours, and initial prevalence estimates provide a useful baseline for research exploring associations with other mental health indicators. This initial study provides a promising start to a wider body of research on the links between eco-anxiety and other markers of wellbeing.