Assessing the Impact of Psychosocial Factors on Perceived Personal and Social Risk in the Face of Climate Change / Evaluando el impacto de los factores psicosociales en la percepción del riesgo personal y social ante el cambio

Climate change is a critical challenge for contemporary society. In response, theoretical frameworks such as the Climate Change Risk Perception Model (CCRPM) have been developed, explaining risk perception through cognitive, experiential and sociocultural factors, as well as sociodemographic variables. The main objective of this research was to validate this model by introducing two significant modifications: firstly, to distinguish between the perception of personal risk and that of social risk; secondly, to break down the cognitive factor into six specific variables that separate true and false beliefs about the causes, consequences and solutions to the phenomenon. A total of 367 university students took part in this study by completing a questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to assess the impact of these dimensions on perceived personal and social risk. The results confirm that the modified model fits both dimensions of risk well, with highly satisfactory explanations of variance in line with the literature. The conclusion is that theoretical significance is achieved by treating true and false cognitive factors separately.