Adjusting the Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale (Russian version) to the volunteer responders mitigating the consequences of the Black Sea disaster

Introduction.  In recent years, there has been an increase in the level of eco-anxiety among the population of various countries. Since this form of anxiety has a negative impact on mental health, the task of diagnosing eco-anxiety becomes urgent.    The aim of study  was to adapt the Russian Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale-13 (HEAS-13).    Methods and materials.  The study sample consisted of 213 volunteer responders mitigating the consequences of the Black Sea disaster. Those included 51 men and 162 women aged 18 to 83 years (M = 34.3; SD = 11.3). The participants completed a questionnaire that incorporated the HEAS-13 and the Motivation Toward the Environment Scale (MTES) by L. Pelletier et al. adapted by A. A. Ivanova et al.    Results and analysis.  Confirmatory factor analysis results confirmed the four-factor structure of the Russian HEAS-13, that includes affective symptoms, rumination, behavioral symptoms, and concern about personal impact on the planet. The internal reliability of the adapted scale was confirmed using the Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω coefficients (α from 0.744 to 0.867; ω from 0.756 to 0.872). The convergent validity of the Russian HEAS-13 was confirmed using correlations between the eco-anxiety according to HEAS-13 and environmental motivation according to MTES. Finally, eco-anxiety revealed correlation with female gender, but not the volunteer age.    Conclusion.  The Russian Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale-13 (HEAS-13) has good psychometric characteristics and can, there-fore, be recommended for use in scientific research in the field of environmental psychology.