Experienced climate change impacts help explain subjective well‐being—Evidence from 14 nature‐dependent communities

Abstract Climate change profoundly affects well‐being in complex and interconnected ways. However, the relationship between climate change and well‐being has been explored in only a handful of settings, most of which are industrialized. Here, we investigate the association between perceived climate change impacts, their severity and subjective well‐being (measured as life satisfaction) using cross‐culturally comparable first‐hand reports from 2488 participants across 14 nature‐dependent communities. We find a negative association between site‐aggregated life satisfaction and different metrics of climate change: perceptions of local impacts, reported severity and instrumental measurements. Within sites, individual‐level associations between perceived severity of climate change impacts and life satisfaction are weak or absent. Further analysis suggests that site‐level characteristics play a crucial role in shaping these patterns. This could indicate that it is the overall vulnerability and exposure of a community to climate change impacts, rather than individual experiences that matters most. Our findings offer a nuanced understanding of how climate change impacts relate to well‐being, emphasizing the multidimensional character of climate change impacts and underscoring the importance of local context in shaping these relationships. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Publication Details

Journal
People and Nature
Published
2025-12-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70230
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Climate Change Communication and Perception
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
4.20

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article

Experienced climate change impacts help explain subjective well‐being—Evidence from 14 nature‐dependent communities

X. Li, Petra Benyei, Eric D. Galbraith, Vincent Porcher et al.
1 citations
People and Nature
Climate Change Communication and Perception
4.20
article

Experienced climate change impacts help explain subjective well‐being—Evidence from 14 nature‐dependent communities

X. Li, Petra Benyei, Eric D. Galbraith, Vincent Porcher, Priyatma Singh, Andrea E. Izquierdo, Rumbidzayi Chakauya, Anna Schlingmann, Marcos Glauser, Anna Porcuna‐Ferrer, Christopher Barrington‐Leigh, Abdullah Al Faisal, Yolanda López‐Maldonado, Emmanuel M. N. A. N. Attoh, Victoria Reyes‐García, Sara Miñarro, André B. Junqueira, Laura Calvet‐Mir, Miquel Torrents‐Ticó
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Abstract Climate change profoundly affects well‐being in complex and interconnected ways. However, the relationship between climate change and well‐being has been explored in only a handful of settings, most of which are industrialized. Here, we investigate the association between perceived climate change impacts, their severity and subjective well‐being (measured as life satisfaction) using cross‐culturally comparable first‐hand reports from 2488 participants across 14 nature‐dependent communities. We find a negative association between site‐aggregated life satisfaction and different metrics of climate change: perceptions of local impacts, reported severity and instrumental measurements. Within sites, individual‐level associations between perceived severity of climate change impacts and life satisfaction are weak or absent. Further analysis suggests that site‐level characteristics play a crucial role in shaping these patterns. This could indicate that it is the overall vulnerability and exposure of a community to climate change impacts, rather than individual experiences that matters most. Our findings offer a nuanced understanding of how climate change impacts relate to well‐being, emphasizing the multidimensional character of climate change impacts and underscoring the importance of local context in shaping these relationships. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

People and NatureVol. 8(2)
Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (FR), University of Helsinki (FI), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (ES), École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR), Southern Methodist University (US), Instituto Tecnológico de Mérida (MX), Université de Montpellier (FR), Helsinki Institute of Physics (FI), University of Fiji (FJ), Centre Tecnologic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (ES), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (FR), Helsinki Art Museum (FI), Secretaría de Investigación, Innovación y Educación Superior (MX), Guyra Paraguay (PY), Amélioration Génétique et Adaptation des Plantes méditerranéennes et tropicales (FR), Autonomous University of Yucatán (MX), The Behavioural Insights Team (GB), Institut Agro Montpelier (FR), Institute of Economics (LV), Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (AR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), McGill University (CA), International Water Management Institute (IWMI) (LK)
Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, FP7 Ideas: European Research Council
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
Climate Change Communication and Perception
4.20
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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