Environmental subjective well-being is defined as the relationship between a person's well-being and their willingness to protect the natural environment. Previous research suggests that positivity is associated with the adoption of pro-environmental behaviors. Environmental hope is a link between improving positivity and encouraging environmental behaviors. Based on previous studies, the researchers developed a model that suggests that high environmental hope will lead to a high positivity ratio (PR) and greater engagement with the environment among students. A positivity ratio is the number of positive emotions to negative emotions. The model also hypothesized that self-control skills, such as rejecting distractions or overcoming temptations, would directly affect a student's engagement with the environment and overall positivity. This study explored how EE can develop environmental stewards by encouraging environmental behaviors, as well as how it can improve well-being by increasing positivity. The research focused on students' engagement with environmental activities, such as recycling and resource protection, and assessed whether overall positivity and well-being increased.
Stemming from the Hope Theory, environmental hope contains three perceptions. The first is a goal, which suggests a person should perceive the goal as achievable and meaningful. The second component is pathway thinking, which indicates an individual perceives various ways to reach a goal and perceives associated barriers. The third and final component is called agency thinking, or the perception that motivation and determination will help a person complete the goal.
This study occurred in central Israel, where the authors randomly selected two schools to study. There were 254 participants, grades 7-9, and the majority of participants were female (52%). The ages ranged from 13 to 17 with an average age of 14 years. The researchers asked students to complete six self-reported assessments: 1) A survey that asked students about their level of green (or environmental) engagement. The questions asked students to indicate their level of involvement in EE programs in their school, in nature, and in their community. 2) A previously developed survey to measure 10 environmental behaviors. Students indicated how often they engaged in each of the 10 behaviors; examples included conservation and environmental activism. 3) The scale of Positive and Negative Experience to measure PR. Students indicated how often they experienced each of the 12 emotions (6 positive, 6 negative) on a scale from 1 to 5. The researchers used the mean scores to calculate an average PR for all students. 4) The Children's Hope Scale assessed environmental hope and included statements addressing pathways thinking and agency thinking. The scale asked students to indicate how frequently each statement described their EE experience. 5) The Adolescents' Self-Control Scale was used to measure self-control skills among students. This survey included 32 statements and asked participants to indicate if the statement was characteristic of their behavior. 6) General demographic questions regarding their education, gender, family life, and more. The authors used statistics to compare these results across students with low, medium, and high self-control skills.
Overall findings indicated that for students with high self-control skills, environmental hope led to greater environmental engagement and adoption of pro-environmental behaviors. This study also found that environmental hope can enhance both environmental behaviors and positivity. For students with low and medium self-control skills, there was no significant relationship between environmental hope and engagement or behaviors. These results affirmed previous findings that suggested environmental hope can promote pro-environmental behavior.
This study has limitations. First, it did not measure changes in environmental behavior or positivity over time. Second, the research relied solely on students' self-report of their behaviors, which could lead to biased results such as over- or under-reporting information. Third, the researchers evaluated positivity ratio across all students. If some students were having a bad day and scored low on the PR assessment, it could lower the average across the entire sample. Lastly, the results are representative of the sample and should not be generalized to all schools throughout Israel or students in other countries.
The authors recommend that EE incorporate environmental hope. To encourage hope among participants, the researchers stress the importance of setting attainable goals for students and to encourage achievement through pathways thinking and agency thinking. For example, programs should work with students to set a goal, outline multiple ways to reach the goal, and encourage motivation to achieve the goal. EE programs should implement activities that develop students' environmental hope and increase their self-control skills in order to promote environmental behaviors and overall positivity.
The Bottom Line
This research explored how EE programs can improve students' well-being and develop environmental stewards by instilling environmental hope. The research occurred in central Israel, where 294 students in grades 7-9 from two schools self-reported answers to six assessments measuring environmental engagement, environmental behaviors, positivity, environmental hope, self-control skills, and demographics. This research determined that the presence of environmental hope in students with strong self-control skills promoted environmental behaviors and strong positivity. The authors recommend that environmental education schools and programs implement activities that develop students' environmental hope and increase their self-control skills to promote environmental behaviors and positivity.