Climate change risk perception in the USA and alignment with sustainable travel behaviours

backgrounds (S1 Fig). An undergraduate degree was the highest qualification obtained by 27% of respondents. High school diplomas (20%), community college/technical college degrees (19%,) and master’s degrees (18%) were also common. Based on 2016 data from the US Census Bureau, the proportion of male and females in our study, as well as the age distribution of our participants were representative of the national data [49]; however, participants in this study tended to have attained higher levels of education than those reported in a 2016 report by the US Census Bureau [50]. Studies comparing participants recruited via SurveyMonkey have found responses to be within 10% comparison of traditional market research companies [51] and within a discrepancy of 5 to 10% between demographics of online respondents and their US distribution [52]. Results and discussion We tested the hypothesis that participants who had difficulty visualizing the distant future and a high level of future optimism would show lower levels of concern about climate change (Fig 1). A hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that neither participants’ self-reported ability to visualize the year 2050 nor participants future optimism were able to significantly explain the variance in individuals’ levels of concern about climate change (Table 1, Model 1). These results were contrary to our expectations. Consistent with findings of Tonn, Hemrick, and Conrad [19], the majority (64%) of our participants said they had trouble visualising the year 2050. Of the 1067 respondents who

answered the question, 21% (n = 228) stated that the year 2050 was ‘not at all clear’ and 43% (n = 460) stated it was ‘not very’ clear (Fig 2). We had predicted that because the consequences of climate change are often discussed as future events [1], people who find it difficult to visual- ise the distant future may be less concerned about climate change. Our results suggest that this is not true. We also predicted that participants would be optimistic about the future and that this, in turn, would make them more optimistic about the future effects of climate change. As Table 1. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis of the predictors of climate change concern. Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5 Predictor Variables β Β β β β Level 1 Ability to visualise the future 0.035 0.034 0.025 0.024 0.033 Level 2 Future Optimism 0.058 Personal Optimism 0.00 0.015 0.018 0.008 Technological Optimism 0.078� 0.156��� 0.158��� 0.158��� Level 3 Environmental Beliefs 0.321��� 0.321��� 0.299��� Level 4 Age -0.038 -0.038 Level 5 Gender -0.133� Adjusted R2 0.003 0.005 0.100 0.100 0.116 ΔR2 0.003 0.006 0.096 0.001 0.017 �p<0.05 ��p<0.01 ���p<0.001 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244545.t001 PLOS ONE Climate change risk perception in the USA and alignment with sustainable travel behaviours PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244545 February 3, 2021 7 / 17