Work

Climate change worry and eating-related eco-concern: a network analysis of psychological and behavioral correlates in the general population

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: As climate change intensifies, ecological concerns and climate worry are becoming more prevalent, paradoxically driving both pro-environmental behaviors and mental health risks. Their impact on eating behaviors remains unclear. This study uses network analysis to examine the complex relationships between eating-related eco-concerns, climate change worry, sustainable dietary behaviors, and disordered eating in the general population. The participants filled in the Eating-related eco-concern (EREC), the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), the Eating Habits Questionnaire (EHQ), Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), the Climate Change Worry Scale (CCWS), and the Sustainable and Healthy Dietary Behaviors Questionnaire (SHDB). Network analysis was performed using R. The sample included 846 participants, 13.8% men, 84.3% females, 1.2% non-binary, and 0.7% undisclosed, with a mean age of 35.91 years. Network analysis revealed that EREC and SHDB represented the nodes with the greatest strength centrality. Positive associations emerged between EREC and CCWS, SHDB, and EHQ, as well as between SHDB and EHQ and between CCWS and DASS-21-Stress. Negative associations emerged between EREC and EDEQ, SHDB and DASS-21-Stress, and SHDB and CCWS. Findings suggest that general heightened concerns about climate change and psychological distress may impede sustainable dietary behaviors, while specific ecological concerns over food choice may motivate such behaviors, albeit favoring disordered eating in terms of orthorexia nervosa symptoms. Longitudinal studies are needed to explore their evolution over time. Eating disorder specialists should consider climate-related distress, especially in environmentally conscious patients. As climate change becomes more serious, people are increasingly worried about the environment. This worry can lead to both positive actions, like choosing sustainable foods, and negative effects on mental health. However, it’s unclear how these concerns affect eating habits overall. In this study, researchers surveyed 846 people from the general population to explore the links between climate worry, eco-friendly eating, mental health, and disordered eating patterns. They used a type of analysis called network analysis that looks at how these factors are connected like a web with important links between different points called nodes. The results showed that people’s concern about how their eating affects the environment and their sustainable eating habits were key nodes of this network. People who were more worried about climate change tended to have more stress, and those with eco-concerns about eating were more likely to show signs of both healthy habits and disordered eating, like obsessively healthy eating (orthorexia). The study concludes that while concern about food and the environment can encourage people to eat more sustainably, it may also lead to unhealthy obsessions with food. Mental health professionals should take climate-related stress into account, especially for patients who are very focused on the environment. More long-term research is needed to understand how these patterns develop over time.

Source: Journal of Eating Disorders

DOI: 10.1186/s40337-025-01477-7

Authors: Lucia Tecuta, Valentina Gardini, Elena Tomba

Institution: University of Bologna

Language: English

Topic: Eating Disorders and Behaviors

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,190