Compassion Towards Nature and Well-Being: The Role of Climate Change Anxiety and Pro-Environmental Behaviors

The current study examined the structure and psychometric characteristics of the Portuguese version of the Climate Change Anxiety Scale (CAS), exploring the climate change anxiety and environmental action mediator effects on the relationship between connection to nature and well-being, and whether self-compassion and receiving compassion from others would moderate these associations. The sample was composed of 522 participants from the general population who completed a set of self-report measures through an online survey. Exploratory factor analysis results of the CAS extracted four factors, and a confirmatory factor analysis revealed an acceptable fit of this structure to the data (χ2 (164) = 328.67; p < 0.001, CMIN/DF = 2.004; CFI = 0.94; TLI = 0.93; RMSEA = 0.06 [90% CI 0.05–0.07; p < 0.001]). The CAS demonstrated good internal consistency (α = 0.92) and convergent, concurrent, and divergent validities. Two moderated mediation models showed a significant direct effect of connection to nature on well-being, and self-compassion and compassion from others significantly moderating this relationship. Furthermore, in both models, climate change anxiety and environmental action significantly mediate the association between connection to nature and well-being. Overall, connection with nature seems to enhance well-being in lower and medium levels of self-compassion and from others but may increase climate change anxiety in all compassion levels, reinforcing the importance of promoting nature-based interventions combined with compassion-focused programs to foster well-being.