This study aimed to examine the effect of climate disaster risk perception on climate anxiety and to verify whether disaster experience plays a moderating role in this relationship. An online survey was conducted with 209 young adults aged 18-29 resid...
This study aimed to examine the effect of climate disaster risk perception on climate anxiety and to verify whether disaster experience plays a moderating role in this relationship. An online survey was conducted with 209 young adults aged 18-29 residing in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions. Participants responded to the Climate Disaster Risk Perception Scale, Climate Anxiety Scale, Climate Disaster-Related Media Exposure, STAI, and Disaster Experience measures. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 29.0 through descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis. The results showed that climate disaster risk perception had a significant positive correlation with climate anxiety, and even after controlling for media exposure and trait anxiety, climate disaster risk perception significantly predicted climate anxiety. Additionally, the interaction effect between climate disaster risk perception and disaster experience was significant, confirming the moderating effect of disaster experience. Simple slope analysis revealed that in the group without disaster experience, climate anxiety increased more steeply as climate disaster risk perception increased. These findings suggest that cognitive risk assessment of climate disasters plays an important role in climate anxiety among young adults, and that risk perception can act as a key factor amplifying anxiety, particularly in individuals without actual disaster experience. Specific implications of the study, clinical implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed.