Feeling responsible, feeling better? The climate-happiness link across European Union
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71014/sieds.v80i2.563Abstract
Climate change is one of the most pressing environmental issues, and often cause citizzens’ anxiety. One such pressing concern is how citizens' sense of personal responsibility for climate change affects their overall life satisfaction. The current study examines this relationship using data from Round 11 (2023) of the European Social Survey (ESS). We examine the extent to which feeling personally responsible for mitigating climate change is associated with life satisfaction, controlling for a number of socio-demographic and attitudinal controls. These include age, gender, political orientation, country of residence, migrant status, whether one believes that climate change exists, how concerned one is about protecting the environment, how close one feels to Europe and one's country of origin, and trust in the European Parliament. The results suggest that individuals who identify more strongly with the task of tackling climate change, report more trust in European institutions, and reside in northern European Member States enjoy greater life satisfaction. Conversely, individuals - mainly from some Eastern and Southern European countries - who either express low identification with Europe or are apathetic about identifying with it are less satisfied.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Vincenzo Marinello, Rossella Maria Pia Di Rocco, Alessandro Indelicato
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