Toward the Development and Validation of a Model of Environmental Citizenship of Young Adults

Abstract

Growing civic participation in environmental movements shows that societies are more engaging in behavior that can be described as environmental citizenship. This behavior, however, may not necessarily be driven by factual knowledge and accurate beliefs. In the present study, a simplified model of environmental citizenship proposed by Hawthorne and Alabaster is tested in a sample of Lithuanian young adults in order to develop a working model of environmental citizenship that could be later used in intervention designs as a change model. A convenience sample of 267 young adults from 18 to 40 years of age participated in the study by filling in a questionnaire that assessed various components that comprise a model of environmental citizenship. The results indicate that, with a few modifications to better fit the data, the model fit the data well and could explain approximately 50% of the variance of environmental citizenship. The study uncovered a gap between factual (concrete) environmental knowledge and environmental literacy (perceived competence), illustrating the need to address this divide in order to ensure evidence-based participation in environmental movements and environmental citizenship behavior.

Political Beliefs as a Moderator for Predicting Environmental Citizenship through Environmental Education and Environmental Literacy

“…While we can generally say that knowledge regarding environmental issues tends to be associated with pro-environmental behavior (Poškus 2022;Liobikien ė and Poškus 2019;Maurer and Bogner 2020;Del Rey et al 2021;Lin and Niu 2018;Chekima et al 2015;Pe'er et al 2007;Valor et al 2013;Mohiuddin et al 2018), we must also remember that humans tend to have a hard time understanding things that are high in scale or with distant consequences. We are simply not evolved to think on a big scale, and we should acknowledge that and focus on educating individuals on things they can see and feel.…”

“…Environmental (self-)education (Poškus 2022), defined as one's willingness to engage with educational materials directed at environmental issues and to learn from them, was assessed with 5 items. Items were rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree).…”

“…Environmental literacy, defined as one's ability to find relevant information regarding environmental issues, was assessed with a measure of 11 items, rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (completely do not know how) to 5 (completely know how to) (Hadjichambis and Paraskeva-Hadjichambi 2020;Poškus 2022). The scale showed excellent internal consistency (ω = 0.919; α = 0.918).…”

“…Regardless of political beliefs, in order for one to effectively engage in environmental action, one first needs to possess the necessary knowledge to do so. Previous research has shown that knowledge and education regarding environmental issues is associated with pro-environmental behavior (Chekima et al 2015;Del Rey et al 2021;Lin and Niu 2018;Liobikien ė and Poškus 2019;Maurer and Bogner 2020;Mohiuddin et al 2018;Pe'er et al 2007;Poškus 2022;Valor et al 2013). Thus, the more one knows on how to address environmental issues, the more one is capable of doing so.…”

Testing the simple model of environmental citizenship in a sample of adolescents

“…ducation for environmental citizenship has recently become one of the focuses of environmental psychologists and educators alike Paraskeva-Hadjichambi, 2020a, 2020b;Hadjichambis and Reis, 2020;Poškus, 2022aPoškus, , 2022b. There is no doubt that if we are to address our current environmental problems, a well-informed society needs to contribute to positive changes in policy as well as to contribute with their individual action.…”