Environmental Concern Over Time: Evidence from the Longitudinal Analysis of a British Cohort Study from 1991 to 2008*

Abstract

Objective. We examined whether and how levels of environmental concern (EC) changed over time in the United Kingdom, from 1991Kingdom, from to 2008Kingdom, from -2009, as well as how EC relates to socioeconomic characteristics across this same timeframe. Methods. Using item response theory models on the last three sweeps of the British National Child Development Study 1958, we evaluated a measure of EC. Then, using latent growth curve models (LGCMs) we estimated the pattern of change for EC across time. Finally, theoretically relevant sociodemographic characteristics were introduced as covariates into the LGCM. Results. We found a small but significant downfall of the mean level of EC over time, with individual-level values displaying higher dispersion in 2008-2009 against the previous sweeps of data. We also found that political orientation has significant effects on the outcome and on its changes across time. Conclusions. Hypotheses regarding the influence of interest in politics and voting choices on EC are supported. The increasing variance of EC over time warrants further investigation. Scientific and societal attention to human-caused environmental problems started spreading worldwide in the early 1970s, following the publication of The Population Bomb (Ehrlich, 1968), The Limits to Growth (Meadows et al., 1972), Rowland and Molina's (1975) dissemination of their findings on the depletion of the ozone layer, and the 1973-1974 energy crisis (Buttel,

Exploring support for shale gas extraction in the United Kingdom

“…A longitudinal UK study found that individuals who vote for the Conservative Party are less likely to be concerned about the environment. This study also reported increasing variance in environmental attitudes, suggesting higher levels of polarization on this issue dimension (Melis et al, 2014 The Times, the right leaning broadsheet newspapers, focus on reporting positive aspects of shale gas and hydraulic fracturing including energy security and the possibility for lower gas prices. The Independent and The Guardian, centre and left leaning broadsheet newspapers, focus on negative aspects of shale gas and hydraulic fracturing including the risk of drinking water contamination and earthquakes (Jaspal and Nerlich, 2014).…”

Attitudes to climate change risk: classification of and transitions in the UK population between 2012 and 2020

“…On the other hand, years of education has also been found to have an inverse relationship with concern about climate change (e.g., Malka et al, 2009 ; Slimak and Dietz, 2006 ). Other studies, for instance, Melis et al ( 2014 ) and Rhead et al ( 2018 ) found that education level is not a significant predictor for environmental concern in the UK population once other factors are controlled for. This may partly be because the effects of education on concern about climate change tend to interact with those of political affiliation (Hamilton, 2011 ).…”

“…McEvoy ( 1972 ) attributed this to men having higher levels of education (at the time) and greater involvement in the community and political issues. Yet others found no significant effect of gender on environmental concern (e.g., Melis et al, 2014 ).…”

“…In the majority of European countries, Gregersen et al ( 2020 ) found that self-positioning further to the right of the political spectrum is correlated with lower levels of worry about climate change. Melis et al ( 2014 ) found that voting for the UK Conservative Party (right-wing) is associated with lower levels of environmental concern than any other voting choice (including non-voting). Similarly, research by Phillips et al ( 2018 ) found that support for climate change mitigation policies is slightly higher for Labour voters (Mainstream-left) than for Conservative (Mainstream-right) voters.…”

‘No taxation without hypothecation’: towards an improved understanding of the acceptability of an environmental tax reform

“…Several large-scale value surveys show that citizens tend to attach great value to a healthy environment and that they consider environmental degradation to be an important problem (Melis, Elliot, & Shryane, 2014). Moreover, there appears to be a positive link between environmental concern and willingness to pay (WTP) for a clean environment (Pagiaslis and Krontalis, 2014).…”