Green teens: Understanding and promoting adolescents’ sustainable engagement.

S.C.E. Thomaes; S. Grapsas; J. van de Wetering; J.E. Spitzer; A.M.G. Poorthuis

doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.006

Green teens: Understanding and promoting adolescents’ sustainable engagement.

S.C.E. Thomaes^*, S. Grapsas, J. van de Wetering, J.E. Spitzer, A.M.G. Poorthuis

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Young people are disproportionally impacted by heatwaves, floods, droughts, and other impacts of climate change. They also have unique potential to catalyze the transformative sustainable change that the world needs now. How can this potential be leveraged? In this perspective, we present the sustainability motive-alignment hypothesis to understand and harness young peoples’, especially adolescents’, potential for sustainable engagement. The hypothesis posits that adolescents will be internally motivated to engage in sustainable behavior when they construe such behavior as a means of pursuing their personal motives for autonomy and status. The hypothesis also suggests that sustainability-promoting policies (educational programs, campaigns) can be improved by using techniques that reshape how adolescents construe sustainability—from a low-priority chore to an activity that embodies a personal priority. We discuss research priorities to expand and evaluate the sustainability motive-alignment hypothesis and to help better understand the psychological forces underlying adolescents’ sustainable engagement.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	352-361
Number of pages	10
Journal	One Earth
Volume	6
Issue number	4
Early online date	14 Mar 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.006
Publication status	Published - 21 Apr 2023

Keywords

Children
Climate-change
Health
Identity
Motivation
Peer influence
Pro-environmental behaviors
Psychological distance
Self-determination
Young-people

Access to Document

10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.006Licence: CC BY

PIIS2590332223000866Final published version, 2.93 MBLicence: CC BY

https://cell.com/one-earth/retrieve/pii/S2590332223000866?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2590332223000866%3Fshowall%3DtrueLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{5282193d882447c8b8d9012297bcd40c,

title = "Green teens: Understanding and promoting adolescents{\textquoteright} sustainable engagement.",

abstract = "Young people are disproportionally impacted by heatwaves, floods, droughts, and other impacts of climate change. They also have unique potential to catalyze the transformative sustainable change that the world needs now. How can this potential be leveraged? In this perspective, we present the sustainability motive-alignment hypothesis to understand and harness young peoples{\textquoteright}, especially adolescents{\textquoteright}, potential for sustainable engagement. The hypothesis posits that adolescents will be internally motivated to engage in sustainable behavior when they construe such behavior as a means of pursuing their personal motives for autonomy and status. The hypothesis also suggests that sustainability-promoting policies (educational programs, campaigns) can be improved by using techniques that reshape how adolescents construe sustainability—from a low-priority chore to an activity that embodies a personal priority. We discuss research priorities to expand and evaluate the sustainability motive-alignment hypothesis and to help better understand the psychological forces underlying adolescents{\textquoteright} sustainable engagement.",

keywords = "Children, Climate-change, Health, Identity, Motivation, Peer influence, Pro-environmental behaviors, Psychological distance, Self-determination, Young-people",

author = "S.C.E. Thomaes and S. Grapsas and {van de Wetering}, J. and J.E. Spitzer and A.M.G. Poorthuis",

note = "Funding Information: This research has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 864137 awarded to Sander Thomaes). Conceptualization, S.T. S.G. J.v.d.W. J.S. and A.P.; writing – original draft, S.T.; writing – review & editing, S.G. J.v.d.W. J.S. and A.P.; funding acquisition, S.T. The authors declare no competing interests. Funding Information: This research has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 864137 awarded to Sander Thomaes). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Author(s)",

year = "2023",

month = apr,

day = "21",

doi = "10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.006",

language = "English",

volume = "6",

pages = "352--361",

journal = "One Earth",

issn = "2590-3330",

publisher = "Elsevier",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Green teens

T2 - Understanding and promoting adolescents’ sustainable engagement.

AU - Thomaes, S.C.E.

AU - Grapsas, S.

AU - van de Wetering, J.

AU - Spitzer, J.E.

AU - Poorthuis, A.M.G.

N1 - Funding Information: This research has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 864137 awarded to Sander Thomaes). Conceptualization, S.T. S.G. J.v.d.W. J.S. and A.P.; writing – original draft, S.T.; writing – review & editing, S.G. J.v.d.W. J.S. and A.P.; funding acquisition, S.T. The authors declare no competing interests. Funding Information: This research has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 864137 awarded to Sander Thomaes). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)

PY - 2023/4/21

Y1 - 2023/4/21

N2 - Young people are disproportionally impacted by heatwaves, floods, droughts, and other impacts of climate change. They also have unique potential to catalyze the transformative sustainable change that the world needs now. How can this potential be leveraged? In this perspective, we present the sustainability motive-alignment hypothesis to understand and harness young peoples’, especially adolescents’, potential for sustainable engagement. The hypothesis posits that adolescents will be internally motivated to engage in sustainable behavior when they construe such behavior as a means of pursuing their personal motives for autonomy and status. The hypothesis also suggests that sustainability-promoting policies (educational programs, campaigns) can be improved by using techniques that reshape how adolescents construe sustainability—from a low-priority chore to an activity that embodies a personal priority. We discuss research priorities to expand and evaluate the sustainability motive-alignment hypothesis and to help better understand the psychological forces underlying adolescents’ sustainable engagement.

AB - Young people are disproportionally impacted by heatwaves, floods, droughts, and other impacts of climate change. They also have unique potential to catalyze the transformative sustainable change that the world needs now. How can this potential be leveraged? In this perspective, we present the sustainability motive-alignment hypothesis to understand and harness young peoples’, especially adolescents’, potential for sustainable engagement. The hypothesis posits that adolescents will be internally motivated to engage in sustainable behavior when they construe such behavior as a means of pursuing their personal motives for autonomy and status. The hypothesis also suggests that sustainability-promoting policies (educational programs, campaigns) can be improved by using techniques that reshape how adolescents construe sustainability—from a low-priority chore to an activity that embodies a personal priority. We discuss research priorities to expand and evaluate the sustainability motive-alignment hypothesis and to help better understand the psychological forces underlying adolescents’ sustainable engagement.

KW - Children

KW - Climate-change

KW - Health

KW - Identity

KW - Motivation

KW - Peer influence

KW - Pro-environmental behaviors

KW - Psychological distance

KW - Self-determination

KW - Young-people

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151379263&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.006

DO - 10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.006

M3 - Article

SN - 2590-3330

VL - 6

SP - 352

EP - 361

JO - One Earth

JF - One Earth

IS - 4

ER -

Green teens: Understanding and promoting adolescents’ sustainable engagement.

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this