Introduction: Climate change poses profound existential threats to millions of people, particularly in the Global South, with impacts differing markedly by the nature of climatic events. Slow-onset processes, such as salinization, rising temperatures, and sea-level rise, unfold gradually and disproportionately burden affected communities, while acute events, including floods, cyclones, and droughts, occur suddenly and can trigger severe mental health consequences. Although prior research has extensively documented the mental health impacts of climate adversity, far less is known about how individuals psychologically adapt to these changes, despite the importance of such knowledge for informing psychosocial and behavioral interventions.
Purpose: This study examined the psychological, cognitive, and social determinants of psychological adaptation to climate change and pro-environmental behavior (PEB) among individuals living in slow- and acute-onset climate-affected regions.
Method: Using a large-scale cross-sectional online survey, we recruited 652 adults from Bangladesh, including participants from acute-onset regions (n = 541) and slow-onset regions (n = 111). Standardized measures assessed climate-related knowledge, belief certainty, perceived residential vulnerability, social norms, incentives, authority support, self-efficacy, psychological adaptation, and public and private PEB.
Results: Structural equation modeling revealed that, across both regions, perceived social norms and perceived residential vulnerability were the strongest predictors of climate risk perception. Risk perception robustly predicted self-efficacy, which facilitated psychological adaptation to climate change and subsequently predicted both public and private PEB. Notably, in acute-onset regions, perceived vulnerability and self-efficacy directly predicted private PEB, indicating a more immediate translation of risk appraisal into individual action; by contrast, in slow-onset regions, authority support both directly and indirectly predicted private PEB.
Conclusion: These findings highlight the need for context-sensitive interventions. Community-based, norm-driven programs may be particularly effective in acute-onset regions, whereas interventions that combine institutional support and incentives with adaptive capacity building may yield greater benefits in slow-onset contexts.