Assessing the psychological impact of climate change is of crucial importance as it is widely recognized that human mental health is negatively affected by changing weather patterns. Worry about climate change is commonly used as a measure of risk perception, and includes concepts such as concern, perceived seriousness, and perceived risk. In order to better evaluate the levels of climate change worry, Alan E. Stewart developed the Climate Change Worry Scale (CCWS).

The aim of the present study was to validate Stewart's CCWS in Italy. To this purpose, CCWS was translated into Italian and its psychometric properties were tested on a sample of 130 Italian adults who were required to complete the CCWS, as well as other standards of measurement, such as the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS), Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), New Ecological Paradigm (NEP), Pro-Environmental Behaviours Scale (PEBS) and Climate Change Anxiety Scale (CCAS). Patients were retested after three months. In this study, Stewart's original single-factor scale was used. Additionally, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and discriminant validity were specifically analysed.

Factor structure of CCWS was investigated, and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) showed a good fit for the single-factor model. Climate Change Worry Scale items exhibited excellent internal consistency. Test-retest reliability at a three-month evaluation proved to be good. Climate change worry was associated with concern, climate change anxiety, pro-environmental behaviors and political orientation.

The Italian version of the Climate Change Worry Scale is a valid and reliable tool to assess climate change worry in the general population.