The relationship between women’s climate change anxiety and their attitudes towards protecting reproductive health

This study aimed to examine the effect of climate change anxiety on women's reproductive health protective attitudes and to identify the factors associated with both constructs. This descriptive and relational study was conducted with 789 women aged 18-49 years who were admitted to a public hospital in the Central Anatolia region between July 2023 and March 2024. Data were collected using the Personal Information Form, the Climate Change Worry Scale (CCWS), and the Married Women's Reproductive Health Protective Attitudes Scale (RHPAS). Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, and multiple linear regression analyses were used to analyze the data. The mean age of the participants was 32.65 ± 7.83 years. The mean RHPAS and CCWS scores were 141.64 ± 21.58 and 29.77 ± 10.49, respectively. Regression analysis showed that educational level, family type, employment status, smoking, use of family planning methods, following climate change related news, and climate change anxiety were significant predictors of reproductive health protective attitudes. In addition, perceived income level, following climate change related news, and reproductive health protective attitudes were identified as significant predictors of climate change anxiety. Furthermore, climate change anxiety and reproductive health protective attitudes were found to be significant predictors of each other. The findings suggest that climate change anxiety significantly predicts women's attitudes towards protecting their reproductive health and that these attitudes significantly predict climate change anxiety. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the effect of climate change anxiety on women's reproductive health protective attitudes, thereby providing novel evidence and contributing to the existing literature.