Climate Change and Doomscrolling

Climate change is in the news every day. How people deal with this, is not well known. Some people might follow climate news compulsively on the internet, also called 'Doomscrolling.' This can be bad for mental health or could discourage people from doing something for a better climate.

To better understand this phenomenon, we are looking for adults aged 18-65 to fill out a questionnaire about 'climate doomscrolling’.

What are we working on? 

Climate change is one of the biggest societal challenges currently. The topic is therefore in the news often, and will be in the near future.  However, we don't know the impact of reading lots of climate-change-related news. Does it affect their mental health, will they start ‘Doomscrolling.’ Doomscrolling, also known as doomsurfing, means people are constantly searching for bad news about a topic, especially on social media or online news. At the moment, there is no knowledge on Climate Change. With this research, we want to study the impact of 'Climate Change Doomscrolling' on the mental health of Dutch and German people.

What do we ask? 

Participation will consist of answering an anonymous survey. This means that we will not collect your name, phone, or IP address. You need a stable internet connection and 15-20 minutes of available time to complete the survey.

By joining, you help us understand more about how climate change news affects mental health. We'll also learn more about who might do more likely to start Climate Change Doomscrolling. With this information we can better help people suffering from this in the future. Lastly, you'll support psychology students working on their bachelor's or master's thesis projects.

Who can participate? 

• Inhabitants of the Netherlands and Germany
• Age 18-65 years
• You can access the survey via smartphone, computer or tablet
• A stable internet connection for 15-20 minutes
• Good understanding of English language. PLEASE NOTE: the questionnaire will become available in Dutch and German. If you would like to wait for this, you can also register below.  

 Unfortunately, you can’t participate when:

• You are getting treatment (including medication) for a medical disorder
• Had a suicide attempt in the last two years, or currently have thoughts about harming yourself .

Meet the researcher

Registration

We are happy you are interested in this project. Please share your details below, and you will receive an email with the link to the questionnaire when you chose the English questionnaire.  

If you have any questions, or you are working for an organisation interested to join this research, please email the researcher. You will receive an answer within 2 working days.

• Participating in scientific research is always voluntary.
• When you register for a study, you will always receive an automatic confirmation email from the email address of the researcher. This email contains a link to the English questionnaire.
• The questionnaire starts with asking to accept the informed consent.
• All studies in which people participate have been reviewed by an ethical committee. This committee checks whether that this research is carried out carefully according to scientific standards and in accordance with participants' rights.  
• Your contact details will only be used as you wish. We only share the data with the researcher of the study in which you want to participate. Have you checked that you would like to be kept informed about new research? You will then receive a message a maximum of once a month. If this changes, we will contact you first. Please read more about how we handle personal data here.