Positive Youth Development in the Context of Climate Change: A Systematic Review

The Positive Effect of pro-Environmental Behavior on Eudaimonic Well-Being in Young Adults: A Daily Diary Study Using the Within-Person Encouragement Design

INTRODUCTION

Existing literature has highlighted the relevance of Pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs)-actions intended to benefit the environment-to Eudaimonic well-being (EWB, i.e., meaning in life and connectedness to others). However, most research has focused on stable individual differences and utilized cross-sectional designs, giving limited attention to the momentary fluctuations of PEBs within individuals. This study aimed to investigate the daily impact of PEBs on EWB from a causal perspective, examining whether manipulating daily PEBs would result in higher levels of EWB on those days.

METHOD

We adopted the Within-Person Encouragement Design, an experimental approach employing instrumental variable estimation, in a Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling framework. Participants were 63 Italian young adults assessed over 21 days and who received 11 randomized encouragements (i.e., "Today we ask you to implement more pro-environmental actions than you would normally enact on a typical day").

RESULTS

A significant positive adherence effect of the encouragement on PEB, and a significant positive treatment effect of PEB on EWB was found.

CONCLUSION

These findings are promising for advancing successful behavioral interventions designed to encourage daily PEBs in younger generations and highlight the importance of PEBs for experiencing a more meaningful life and enhanced connectedness with others.

Addressing the Impact of Climate Change on Sexual and Reproductive Health Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

There is an urgent need to better understand the role of climate change on sexual and reproductive health outcomes, particularly among adolescent girls and young women in low- and middle-income countries. Stakeholders at all levels should apply a rights-based, gendered approach to climate action and adaptation.

Family Communication About Climate Change in the United States

Family discussions about climate change are a critical factor influencing children's climate change perceptions and behaviors. Yet, there is limited research on family communication about climate change in the US. Drawing from an online longitudinal sample, 214 parents reported on their 336 children. Descriptive statistics examined engagement in family climate change communication. Children's climate change concerns and parents' interest in engaging in conversations about climate change were assessed by the child's age. Logistic models examined how recent family climate change communication was associated with parents' perceived roles and barriers to engaging in conversations. Most parents (68%) were interested in talking to their children about climate change; of those expressing interest, only 46% reported recent communication. Parents reported that older children were more concerned about climate change than younger children (0-5 years: 21%; 6-11 years: 43%; 12-17 years: 56%), but no differences were identified in parents' interest in communicating with their children by the child's age. Recent family climate change communication was significantly associated with not knowing what to say and parents' perception that their role was to support their children in action. Study findings suggest a significant opportunity to involve families in climate change communication. Parents may benefit from training resources, especially those tailored to children's age, to help them communicate with their children about climate change. Strategies that engage parents and children in activism activities together are also needed.

Climate-friendly food-choice intentions among emerging adults: extending the theory of planned behavior with objective ambivalence, climate-change worry and optimism

Climate-friendly food choices are still relatively rarely addressed in studies investigating climate engagement, particularly among young people. To address this research gap, we conducted a questionnaire study with senior high school students (N = 474). Our overarching theoretical framework is the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), which we extended with emotional factors (climate-change worry and optimism) and attitudinal ambivalence. We found that all factors included, except for optimism, correlated with the food-choice intentions. In multiple regression analyses, worry was the second strongest predictor, after attitudes. Moreover, a measure of objective ambivalence moderated the correlation between attitudes and intentions by weakening it. The results support the validity of using the TPB model when explaining intentions to make climate-friendly food choices among emerging adults. However, our results suggest that it is also important to consider emotions-in this case climate-change worry-and the existence of conflicting evaluations about choosing climate-friendly food.

Designing learning environments for promoting young people's constructive coping with climate change

This chapter first summarizes how the consequences of global climate change (GCC) can harm young people's well-being through physical health impacts and awareness of GCC. We then outline how youth may cope with GCC by denying the problem, distancing themselves from it, or taking individual actions. However, the coping strategy shown to have the best mental well-being outcomes relates to collective actions and agency. Next, an examination of school-based GCC interventions reveals that engaging, participatory approaches may be more effective in promoting positive outcomes for youth and climate action. Our main contribution is a discussion of how the evidence-based design of learning environments presents an undeveloped but potentially effective way to enhance interventions for the development of constructive GCC coping strategies among youth. Utilizing environmental affordances and design as scaffolding can guide the design of learning environments that give youth opportunities for active cognitive, emotional, and physical engagement with climate change education. Natural environments may be particularly effective in supporting active engagement and pathways to constructive coping. More research is needed to understand what design features underly these pathways to improved well-being and GCC coping strategies that may have positive implications for youth climate action.