The aim of this study was to determine if parents' environmental concern, along with other contextual variables, could predict children's concern for the environment. Environmental concern, in this context, refers to people's awareness of environmental problems, their support of efforts to solve the problems, and their willingness to contribute personally to solving the problems.
The researchers used data from the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). An individual environmental concern index (ECI) was included in the PISA survey. Separate versions were used for parents and students, but both groups were asked to indicate on a 0-3 scale their level of concern relating to six topics: air pollution, energy shortage, extinction of plants and animals, clearing of forests, water shortages, and nuclear waste. The PISA also collected information about a broad set of physical, family, and school characteristics relating to each child. The final sample of participants included over 70,000 children (aged 15) and their parents, representing 16 different countries.
Results indicated that parents had greater environmental concern than their teens, the environmental concern of parents was associated with the environmental concern of their children, and girls were more concerned about the environment than boys. Additionally, girls were more influenced by their parents' environmental concern than were boys. Informative campaigns in schools also played a role in the formation of children's environmental concern. These findings suggest that including or targeting parents in efforts to promote concern for the environment can promote children's concern as well, and can complement traditional informational campaigns directed at youth in school.
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