Investigation into eco-emotions among young adults in urban Nepal and India

Background

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Objectives

The climate and ecological crises present an unprecedented global challenge with wide- ranging social, environmental, and psychological implications. Although these crises affect populations worldwide, communities in the Global South, and younger populations are disproportionately impacted. Furthermore, emerging evidence on emotional responses to the climate and ecological crises highlights the importance of investigating the relationship between these crises and mental health and wellbeing. This thesis aims to investigate emotional responses to the climate and ecological crises (often termed 'eco-emotions') in young adults in urban Nepal and India. Due to limited research on eco-emotions in South Asia, this thesis aims to build on the field's understanding of eco-emotions and examine the cultural and structural contexts that influence eco-emotional experience in a South Asian context.

Methods

Six studies were conducted to investigate eco-emotional responses in young adults in urban Nepal and India. This thesis includes one systematic review and meta-analysis; three qualitative studies, and two cross-sectional quantitative studies. STUDY

Aims

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Results

STUDY 1: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess levels of eco- emotions in young adults (age 18-29) across global populations. The relationship between eco-anxiety and mental health outcomes (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress) was also explored. Fifty-nine studies reported levels of eco-emotions; with thirty-seven studies reporting associations between eco-anxiety and each of anxiety, depression, and stress. Eco-anxiety was the most commonly reported eco-emotion. Higher scores of eco-anxiety were reported by populations facing direct environmental impacts. Eco-anger and eco-hope were reported to have a role in adaptive coping. Meta-analyses indicated moderate, significant positive associations between eco-anxiety and depression r = 0.29, anxiety r = 0.34, and stress r = 0.30. Meta-regressions were conducted to explore heterogeneity, with no significant relationship found. The results highlighted the importance of addressing heterogeneity in operationalising the construct of eco-anxiety; and on the need to collect data on eco-emotions from Global South populations, which is lacking in the current literature. Additionally, the review underscored the need for measurement scales to encompass emotional responses to the wider ecological crisis beyond climate change, allowing for a more comprehensive assessment of eco-emotional responses to environmental change. STUDY 2: This study sought to understand the views and experiences of young adults in Nepal and India regarding emotional responses to the ecological and climate crises. Using constructivist grounded theory, interviews were conducted with twenty-four young adults (age 18-29), equally split between region (Delhi National-Capital-Region in India, and Kathmandu Valley in Nepal); poor and middle-class urban populations; and male/female sex, to ensure a suitable range of experiences. Participants reported a range of eco-emotions, including eco-anxiety, eco-anger, eco-sadness, eco-guilt, and (to a lesser extent) eco-hope. Direct, tangible experiences had a stronger emotional connection than wider system-level terms, as did environmental disruptions to cultural practices and rituals. There were tensions relating to social inequities in the impacts of the climate and ecological crises and in conflicts between perceived benefits and ecological harms from development. Furthermore, findings underscored the role of cultural idioms of distress in shaping emotional engagement with the climate and ecological crises. STUDY 3: This study aimed to investigate how young adults in urban Nepal and India cope with the eco-emotions they experience. The same participants from Study two took part in the investigation. Findings indicated that coping strategies were shaped by perceived agency and structural constraints. Many participants described fatalistic beliefs rooted in cultural worldviews, as well as resignation-based acceptance, which enabled psychological distancing from distressing eco-emotions when individuals felt limited capacity to influence environmental change. Socioeconomic factors seemed to influence coping strategies, with more affluent participants being able to access material resources to buffer the impacts of deteriorating environmental conditions, while recognising that such strategies may become increasingly constrained in the future. Participants also described reconciling environmental degradation with aspirations of development, often through rationalisations or denial. Finally, personal values seemed to play a role in shaping coping orientations, influencing engagement in meaning-focussed coping, pro-environmental behaviours, and techno- optimistic beliefs. Overall, the findings suggest that coping in constrained contexts may be better understood through the lens of functional coping, rather than the traditional adaptive versus maladaptive coping. STUDY 4: This qualitative study draws on a broader research project examining emotional responses to climate and ecological crises among young adults in South Asia. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, the same participants from Study two took part in the investigation. Participants described solastalgic distress arising from environmental degradation across both rural and urban contexts, including loss of green spaces, changing climatic patterns, environmental pollution, and the transformation of culturally meaningful landscapes. Findings revealed that solastalgia was experienced as both personal and collective loss, shaped by temporal orientations, memory, mobility, and identity. Migrants described layered forms of distress involving nostalgia for environmentally changing hometowns alongside difficulties forming attachments in degraded urban environments, while native residents expressed emotional displacement linked to overcrowding, loss of ecological space, and erosion of community cohesion. Issues of cultural identity, language, spirituality, and power relations with the state further shaped participants' experiences. By foregrounding South Asian perspectives, this study extends understandings of solastalgia as a socially embedded and multi-sited phenomenon. STUDY 5: This quantitative study examined levels of eco-emotions among young adults (age 18-29) in urban Nepal and India; and evaluated the reliability and validity of the Edinburgh Eco-emotions Scale in this context. 527 participants were recruited from eight urban centres in Nepal and India using random cluster sampling. Exploratory factor analysis (N = 308) supported a three-factor structure, comprising "Present-based eco-distress" (four items), "Eco-anger" (three items), and "Future-oriented eco-anxiety" (five items). Confirmatory factor analysis (N = 219) demonstrated excellent model fit: χ²(51) = 63.68, p = .11, CFI = .98, TLI = .97, RMSEA = .04 (90% CI [.00, .06]), SRMR = .06. Internal consistency for all subscales was satisfactory: Present-based Eco-distress (α = .76, ω = .84), Eco-anger (α = .70, ω = .78), and Future-oriented Eco-anxiety (α = .72, ω = .84). Descriptive results indicated moderate to high levels of eco-emotions across the sample. Multilevel modelling showed that participants from lower economic backgrounds reported significantly higher present- based eco-distress than middle-income participants; while females reported higher future- oriented eco-anxiety than males. No socio-demographic predictors were significantly associated with eco-anger. Taken together, the findings support the psychometric validity of the Edinburgh Eco-emotions Scale on young adults in urban Nepal and India. While some socio-demographic predictors may predict eco-emotions in urban Nepal and India, others were not significant predictors, indicating that eco-emotional experience may be widely shared across urban populations in this context. STUDY 6: Building on study 5, this study sought to investigate relationships between eco- emotions, mental health outcomes, fatalistic beliefs, and voting intentions related to deteriorating air quality. Using the same sample from study five, structural equation modelling assessed associations between eco-emotions and depression, anxiety, and stress (using the DASS-21); as well as links with belief in fate/karma and voting preferences. Present-based eco-distress was associated with higher DASS Depression (β = .17, p < .01), DASS Anxiety (β = .23, p < .001), and DASS Stress (β = .12, p = .05). In contrast, eco-anger and future-oriented eco-anxiety were not significantly associated with depression, anxiety, or stress. Higher levels of present-based eco-distress (β = -.21, p < .001) and eco-anger (β = - .22, p = .01) were associated with lower voting intentions, whereas future-oriented eco- anxiety was positively associated with voting intentions (β = .39, p = < .001). Eco-anger was negatively associated with fatalistic beliefs (β = -.25, p = .001), while future-oriented eco- anxiety showed a small but significant positive association (β = .19, p = .02). These findings suggest that eco-emotions do not function uniformly as indicators for mental ill-health, and highlight the importance of considering cultural beliefs and sociopolitical engagement when interpreting emotional responses to environmental change in urban South Asian contexts.

Conclusion

The findings across the studies in this thesis underscore the complexity in interpreting eco- emotional responses in urban South Asian contexts. The results demonstrate that eco- emotions must be understood in relation to the lived-realities of individuals and communities, shaped by historical inequities, social structures, and local environmental conditions. This highlights the need for a more pluralistic and context-sensitive understanding of menta