Coping with Climate Change among Adolescents: Implications for Subjective Well-Being and Environmental Engagement

Abstract

Abstract:The objective of this questionnaire study was to investigate how Swedish adolescents (n = 321) cope with climate change and how different coping strategies are associated with environmental efficacy, pro-environmental behavior, and subjective well-being. The results were compared to an earlier study on 12-year-olds, and the same coping strategies, problem-focused coping, de-emphasizing the seriousness of the threat, and meaning-focused coping, were identified. As in the study on children, problem-focused and meaning-focused coping were positively related to felt efficacy and environmental behavior, while de-emphasizing the threat was negatively related to these measures. As expected, the more problem-focused coping the adolescents used, the more likely it was that they experienced negative affect in everyday life. This association was explained by the tendency for highly problem-focused adolescents to worry more about climate change. In contrast, meaning-focused coping was positively related to both well-being and optimism. When controlling for well-known predictors such as values and gender, meaning-focused and problem-focused coping were independent positive predictors of environmental efficacy and pro-environmental behavior, while de-emphasizing the threat was a negative predictor of pro-environmental behavior. The results are discussed in relation to coping theories and earlier studies on coping with climate change.

Hope in the Face of Climate Change: Associations With Environmental Engagement and Student Perceptions of Teachers’ Emotion Communication Style and Future Orientation

“…Hence, this study extends the results from earlier studies that have found that de-emphasizing the seriousness of climate change goes together with a low degree of environmental efficacy (Ojala, 2012(Ojala, , 2013b to concern a more general feeling of low self-efficacy. This further emphasizes the importance of applying an -action competence approach‖ when educating about these issues, in order to help these young people to feel empowered (Jensen & Schnack, 1997;Mogensen & Schnack, 2010).…”

“…This result could perhaps be explained by theories and studies showing that if people do not know of any ways of solving a problem, i.e. feel less in control, they are also more inclined to cope with the problem in defensive ways (Ojala, 2013b;Folkman & Lazarus, 1980;Stern, 2012).…”

“…Ojala (2013b) argued that education for -emotional awareness‖ should be seen as one important part of ESD. In addition, one could maintain that a focus on emotions should be a specific part of teacher education.…”

Mudanças climáticas globais e o cuidado ambiental na percepção de adolescentes: uma aproximação possível

“…Convém mencionar que já existem estudos dedicados à população adolescente e ao seu engajamento com questões ambientais (Kaiser et al, 2007;Renaud-Dubé et al, 2010;Wray-Lake et al, 2010;Ojala, 2013). Contudo, quando se trata especificamente da visão desse grupo sobre mudanças climáticas, o número de estudos existentes é ainda pequeno, tanto internacionalmente quanto no cená-rio nacional (Barros & Pinheiro, 2013).…”

“…Wray-Lake et al (2010) e Ojala (2013) ressaltam, por isso, a importância de conduzir pesquisas com adolescentes, principalmente ao considerar que serão eles os futuros cidadãos, sejam eles políticos, cientistas, empresários, professores, enfim, futuros adultos que irão lidar mais intensamente com os impactos das MCGs.…”