Overcoming skepticism with education: interacting influences of worldview and climate change knowledge on perceived climate change risk among adolescents

Stevenson, Kathryn T.; Peterson, M. Nils; Bondell, Howard D.; Moore, Sara; Carrier, Sarah

doi:10.1007/s10584-014-1228-7

Cited by 215 publications

(203 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In Dhaka division it was found that male respondents have more knowledge compared to female respondents. Similar observation has been made in other studies where gender perspective regarding environmental change was significant because information relating to this is limited especially in third world countries [16] [23] [40]- [43]. Similar to this research McCright [44] suggested gender differences may stem from differing socialization experiences between men and women, which can lead to differing levels of environmental concern or trust in science.As regards the effects of environmental change on health, most respondents stated that environmental change lead to ill health.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Adolescents Perception on Environmental Change and Health Risk in Two Divisions of Bangladesh

Dana¹,

Haque²

2015

JSS

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Bangladesh is facing and will have to face all the direct and indirect impacts of environmental change because of its geographical position. It is one of the developing countries susceptible to environmental disaster where almost each and every year environmental change is affecting the human health in a multi-dimensional way. The linkages between health and environmental change are mediated by the complex interactions of population, society and environmental systems. The objective of this study was to explore adolescents' perception on environmental change and health risk in two divisions of Bangladesh. Our analysis is based on quantitative data collection utilizing structured questionnaires. Simple random sampling was used to have a good representation of population. Total sample size of this study was 437. For the analysis of quantitative data both descriptive and inferential statistics were carried out based on the basis of study objectives. Most of the respondents (98.3%) stated that environmental change is causing serious health problems in Bangladesh. Majority respondents in Dhaka division perceived that there is an increase in the number of diseases during the summer and respondents in Rajshahi division perceived that number of diseases occur in all three seasons. The study observed that high level of awareness programmes will help to increase the success of different programmes initiated by the government to prevent diseases related to environmental change. Adolescents are aware about the environmental change that is taking place and causing health problems. The most influential factor on such awareness was the excess to receive information those who have information everyday had more knowledge about environmental change and its impact on health. Therefore to increase the knowledge and perception of health problems related to environmental change we need to arrange awareness programme, ensure excess to information and more research in this area.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Adolescents Perception on Environmental Change and Health Risk in Two Divisions of Bangladesh

Dana¹,

Haque²

2015

JSS

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“…This logic is supported by several studies suggesting that climate change knowledge is positively correlated with climate change concern [1][2][3][4] and others that have linked climate change concern to both individual and collective climate action [3,5]. In fact, one US study found that concern was the most important predictor of support for national policies aimed at addressing climate change [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…For climate change concern, we drew questions from one of the only large-scale surveys designed for this age group [22]. The resulting four-item scale has been successfully used in previous studies with both adolescents and young adults [4,23] For climate change hope, we drew on both the Snyder et al [24] Will and Ways Hope scale and a climate change hope scale [25]. To measure pro-environmental behavior, we adapted items from several instruments measuring pro-environmental behavior of children and adolescents [20,26].…”

Section: Instrument Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motivating Action through Fostering Climate Change Hope and Concern and Avoiding Despair among Adolescents

2015

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Efforts to build climate change concern seem warranted to overcome apathy and promote action. However, research suggests that these efforts can backfire by breeding despair, denial and inaction. This may be especially true among younger audiences, as despair is highest among those who view climate challenges as out of their control, and children generally have lower perceived and actual control than adults in political and personal arenas. Though many studies have documented feelings of despair and sadness among younger audiences, few have explored how climate change hope may counteract despair and encourage productive responses to climate change concern. This study examined how climate change hope, despair, and concern predict pro-environmental behavior with a quantitative survey of a random sample of middle school students in North Carolina, USA (n = 1486). We did not find an interaction between climate change hope and concern or despair, but instead found climate change hope and concern independently and positively related to behavior and despair negatively related to behavior. These results suggest that climate change concern among K-12 audiences may be an important antecedent to behavior which does not dampen the positive impacts of hope. Further, rather than mitigating the negative effects of climate change despair, hope may be an independent predecessor to behavior. Students at Title I (a measure of low socioeconomic status) schools were less likely to engage in pro-environmental behaviors, suggesting climate literacy efforts should target schools with lower levels of socioeconomic status specifically.

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“…A hypothesis in this context could be that in classrooms where holism and pluralism are connected more strongly and teaching and learning thus is more in line with the UNESCO definition of ESD, it is also more effective in terms of promoting students' sustainability consciousness. Future endeavors focusing on the effectiveness of ESD also need to consider other concepts than students' sustainability consciousness, such as time perspective [68], risk perception [69], self-determination [70], and self-efficacy [71]. There is indeed a growing body of recent literature that supports the legitimacy of such concepts as important outcomes of ESD [72].…”

Section: Conclusion and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effectiveness of Education for Sustainable Development

et al. 2015

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Abstract:Perhaps the most important issue in our time is how to sustain our planet's resources, while developing wealth and well-being for a growing population. This monumental task has been defined in the concept of sustainable development (SD). During the last few decades the world communities have agreed upon addressing SD through international treaties. As a response Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been launched as an answer to cope with sustainability. However, empirical studies are a missing link in the discourse around ESD, where decisions and implementation strategies are heavily based on policy recommendations and gut feelings by practitioners. We used data from 2413 students in grades 6, 9, and 12 from 51 schools across Sweden to study the effectiveness of ESD. In line with the current debate on the definition of ESD, we quantified the extent to which teaching can be labeled as holistic and/or pluralistic. Through a series of descriptive analyses and the estimation of structural equation models, our results indicate that ESD can indeed impact on student outcomes in terms of their sustainability consciousness. The results of this study reveal the key role ESD plays in addressing SD, paving the way for a more sustainable future.

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Overcoming skepticism with education: interacting influences of worldview and climate change knowledge on perceived climate change risk among adolescents

Cited by 215 publications

References 30 publications

Adolescents Perception on Environmental Change and Health Risk in Two Divisions of Bangladesh

Adolescents Perception on Environmental Change and Health Risk in Two Divisions of Bangladesh

Motivating Action through Fostering Climate Change Hope and Concern and Avoiding Despair among Adolescents

The Effectiveness of Education for Sustainable Development

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