Evaluating behavioral responses to climate change in terms of coping and adaptation: An index approach

•A small proportion of small woodland owners exhibited adaptation behavior.•A larger proportion of small woodland owners exhibited coping behavior.•The greatest proportion of owners exhibited mixed coping-adaptation behavior.•A theory-grounded regression model explained the adaptation index.•The findings inform how to evaluate adaptation more consistently and coherently. As individuals and households have increasingly suffered the effects of climate change, substantial research has focused on understanding behavioral adaptation, the process of individuals and households responding to climate change to reduce future risk and improve well-being. However, this research is limited by the challenge of evaluating adaptation and differentiating it from coping. The theoretical literature suggests that planned, proactive, and transformative responses are more consistent with the concept of adaptation, while autonomous, reactive, and incremental efforts are more consistent with the concept of coping. We developed an index based on these features for evaluating behavioral responses to climate change in terms of coping and adaptation. We tested the index with a regression model of variables theorized to foster adaptation. Our empirical context was small woodland owners responding to climate change-related stressors (storms, insect and disease outbreaks, winter thaws, droughts, heat waves, and wildfires) by managing their forests in the Northwoods, USA. We found that a small but notable proportion of the owners exhibited behavior more consistent with adaptation than coping. A larger proportion of owners exhibited behavior more consistent with coping than adaptation. The greatest proportion exhibited mixed coping-adaptation behavior, confirming theories that coping and adaptation occur on a continuum, with interplay between the two. We also found the regression model explained how consistent their responses were with adaptation relative to coping. Our findings advance scholarly understanding of behavioral adaptation and how to evaluate it more consistently and coherently. Our findings also enhance practical understanding of how small woodland owners adapt to climate change.