Climate emergency coping scale: Development and validation of a multidimensional scale

Abstract

Climate emergency poses not only environmental and economic challenges but also serious psychological consequences, contributing to growing levels of distress, anxiety, and helplessness. Despite increasing recognition of these effects, there is a lack of validated tools to assess how people cope emotionally and behaviorally with the climate crisis, especially in distinguishing between individual and social strategies. To address this gap, we developed and validated the Climate Emergency Coping Scale (CECS) through four studies conducted with Spanish samples. Study 1 (n = 520) used qualitative analysis to identify coping strategies from open-ended responses, forming the basis for item generation. Study 2 (n = 242) piloted the preliminary version to test its factorial structure and refine items. Study 3 (n = 1,021) explored the factorial structure of the final 12-item scale using exploratory factor analysis, and Study 4 (n = 1,064) confirmed the three-factor model—functional-individual, functional-social, and dysfunctional coping—while providing evidence of reliability, convergent, discriminant, incremental validity, and measurement invariance across gender, age, and education. The CECS offers a psychometrically robust instrument for assessing how individuals and communities cope with the emotional impact of the climate emergency. This scale provides a valuable framework for future research and intervention aimed at promoting adaptive coping and collective efficacy in the face of global environmental challenges.