Who’s to Act? Perceptions of Intergenerational Obligation and Pro-Environmental Behaviours among Youth

Abstract

“We are all in the same boat” are words heard from young climate activists, suggesting that all generations must engage together in the fight against climate change. However, because of their age and life situation, some young people may feel unable to change the situation and attribute the moral obligation to do so to older generations. Whether such attributions restrict young people from engaging in pro-environmental behaviours remains largely unstudied. To fill this gap, the present study incorporated perceptions of self-efficacy, feelings of external control, and intergenerational obligation (i.e., believing that all generations should act) into the Value–Belief–Norm model. Data from high school (n = 639) and bachelor (n = 1509) students in French-speaking Switzerland showed that perceptions of self-efficacy and intergenerational obligation predicted the probability of engaging in both an actual behaviour (Study 1) and a costly educational commitment (Study 2), while perceiving that the fate of the Earth lies in the hands of powerful others did not. These results suggest that educational programs on climate change should integrate intergenerational components.

Hierarchy of value orientation and beliefs in climate change influencing the farmers’ extractive or non-extractive behavior on the farm

“…Values and value orientations are limited in number, placed at the first level of cognitive pyramid, and can create specific and diverse patterns of beliefs even without individual awareness (Pitas et al, 2020 ). The importance of values that are widely shared by all members of a culture as fundamental bases to individual’s identity and self-concept, indirectly lead to the belief, attitude, and behavior, is supported by studies (Paudyal et al, 2015 ; Hornsey et al, 2016 ; Whitley et al, 2018 ; Bouman et al, 2020 ; Manfredo et al, 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ; Ballantyne et al, 2021 ; Wan Hussain et al, 2021 ; Sarrasin et al, 2022 ). The study of psychological values such as altruistic and biospheric showed that values are good predictors of a behavioral change focusing on reducing carbon emissions (Zhang et al, 2020 ).…”

“…But, it remains largely unknown whether people have anthropocentric or biocentric values, or if the current generation acts to mitigate climate change or not. This is basically due to the fact that they think it is the moral responsibility of previous generations who damaged the environment to make changes to mitigate climate problems (Sarrasin et al, 2022 ). These changes in values could be transmitted to beliefs and ultimately lead to behavioral intention and behavior.…”

Climate change and pro-environmental behaviours: the significant environmental challenges of livelihoods

“…Similarly, the factors such as awareness, attitudes and norms are robust predictors of intention to engage in post-consumer plastic packaging activity (Widayat et al, 2022). High school students of France and Switzerland are engaged in PEB (Sarrasin et al, 2022). According to Masud et al (2016), behavioural intentions play a mediatory role between the TPB's factors and the PEB, which, in turn, lead to CC.…”

“…, 2022). High school students of France and Switzerland are engaged in PEB (Sarrasin et al. , 2022).…”

Personal and Professional Mitigation Behavioral Intentions of Agricultural Experts to Address Climate Change

“…Various studies show that environmental values (NEP) can influence many factors. For example, Wang et al (2022) and Sarrasin et al (2022) find that pro-environmental values can influence perceived behavioral control or self-efficacy. Stoutenborough and Vedlitz (2014) and Kellstedt et al (2008) find that those with higher ecological values are likely to try and understand climate change because of their environmental concerns (see Fig.…”