Breaking the climate silence: Predictors of discussing global warming with family and friends

Margaret Orr; Amanda Borth; John Kotcher; Eryn Campbell; Teresa Myers; Ed Maibach; Anthony Leiserowitz; Seth A. Rosenthal; Christopher Clarke

doi:10.1371/journal.pclm.0000538

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Breaking the climate silence: Predictors of discussing global warming with family and friends

Margaret Orr ,

Roles Conceptualization, Writing – original draft

* E-mail: Morr6@gmu.edu

Affiliation George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9843-9964

⨯
Amanda Borth,

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft

Affiliation George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1583-3219

⨯
John Kotcher,

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4789-1384

⨯
Eryn Campbell,

Roles Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America, University of Pennsylvania, Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Teresa Myers,

Roles Writing – review & editing

Affiliation George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1712-1290

⨯
Ed Maibach,

Roles Data curation, Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America
⨯
Anthony Leiserowitz,

Roles Data curation, Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
⨯
Seth A. Rosenthal,

Roles Data curation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
⨯
Christopher Clarke

Roles Writing – review & editing

Affiliation George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America
⨯

Breaking the climate silence: Predictors of discussing global warming with family and friends

Margaret Orr,
Amanda Borth,
John Kotcher,
Eryn Campbell,
Teresa Myers,
Ed Maibach,
Anthony Leiserowitz,
Seth A. Rosenthal,
Christopher Clarke

Published: April 17, 2025
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000538

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perceived scientific consensus is a significant predictor of climate discussion

Posted by pclimate on 18 Aug 2025 at 11:22 GMT

In the abstract and introduction, we mention that perceived scientific consensus is a significant predictor of climate discussion. However, in the results and discussion, this is not found to be significant. This discrepancy exists because most of the results in the paper are based on our regression analysis, where perceived consensus is not significant. It is only significant in the secondary relative weight analysis.

No competing interests declared.

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Breaking the climate silence: Predictors of discussing global warming with family and friends

Breaking the climate silence: Predictors of discussing global warming with family and friends

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perceived scientific consensus is a significant predictor of climate discussion

Posted by pclimate on 18 Aug 2025 at 11:22 GMT