Do Teenagers Believe in Anthropogenic Climate Change and Take Action to Tackle It?
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. The Significance of Understanding Teenagers in Shaping Climate Change Studies
1.2. Socio-Psychological and Demographic Factors in Relation to Climate Change
1.3. Aims of This Research
1.4. Study Context
2. Materials and Method
2.1. Participants and Design
2.2. Instruments
2.2.1. Teenagers’ Awareness of Climate Change Survey
2.2.2. Actions on Climate Change Scale
2.2.3. Ecocentric and Anthropocentric Attitudes toward the Environment Scale
2.2.4. Beliefs Regarding Climate Change
2.3. Data Collecting Procedure
2.4. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Teenagers’ Awareness of Climate Change
3.2. Actions on Climate Change
3.3. Do Teenagers Believe in Climate Change?
3.4. Are Teenagers Skeptical about the Reality of Climate Change?
3.5. Determinants of Climate Change-Related Actions
3.6. Climate Change-Related Attributes in Terms of Gender
4. Discussion and Conclusions
5. Limitations and Recommendations
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Survey Question | Response Categories and Percentage of Responses | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Have You Heard of “Climate Change”? | Yes (93.7%) | No (6.3%) | ||
Where have you heard about climate change? | Television (32.9%) | Radio (0.7%) | Newspaper (1.4%) | Internet (7.23%) |
Friends (5.3%) | Family (5.1%) | School (41.8%) | Others (5.57%) | |
Do you think anything can be done to reduce the effect of climate change? | Yes (42.6%) | No (23.4%) | Don’t know (34.0%) | |
Do you think anything can be done to tackle climate change? | Yes (41.4%) | No (24.4%) | Don’t know (34.2%) | |
Who do you think should have the main responsibility for tackling climate change? | International organizations (37.6%) | National government (48.8%) | Local government (42.8%) | Business, Industry (48.3%) |
Individuals (57.8%) | All people (57.9%) | Environmental organizations (60.2%) |
Items | Always | Frequently | Sometimes | Rarely | Never | M | St D |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I choose to walk or cycle rather than take a motor vehicle. | 32.0 | 23.3 | 18.7 | 13.1 | 12.8 | 3.48 | 1.38 |
I deliberately purchase food produced locally rather than imported products. | 19.8 | 25.9 | 32.1 | 16.7 | 5.6 | 3.37 | 1.14 |
I donated money to national non-governmental organizations to contribute to environmental protection. | 9.9 | 10.1 | 16.5 | 16.8 | 46.7 | 2.19 | 1.37 |
I purchase products in reusable or recyclable packages. | 19.7 | 26.2 | 29.6 | 16.6 | 8.0 | 3.32 | 1.19 |
I avoid buying from a company which shows disregard for the environment. | 22.9 | 21.9 | 27.1 | 18.7 | 9.5 | 3.30 | 1.26 |
I warned people not to use water and energy if not necessary. | 18.2 | 21.7 | 32.5 | 18.3 | 9.3 | 3.21 | 1.20 |
I recycle glass bottles, aluminum cans, paper. | 27.9 | 24.6 | 26.0 | 14.1 | 7.4 | 3.51 | 1.23 |
I try to use less energy (electricity, water, etc.). | 33.5 | 26.8 | 23.1 | 11.5 | 5.1 | 3.71 | 1.18 |
I turn off lights I am not using. | 50.9 | 19.5 | 13.9 | 9.7 | 6.0 | 3.99 | 1.25 |
I make an effort to use less water when brushing my teeth or bathing. | 39.3 | 23.2 | 20.1 | 11.1 | 6.2 | 3.78 | 1.24 |
I took steps to protect plants (i.e., watering trees and flowers). | 29.4 | 19.8 | 23.2 | 9.8 | 17.8 | 3.33 | 1.44 |
I choose to read publications that focus on environmental issues. | 18.7 | 19.2 | 29.0 | 16.8 | 16.2 | 3.07 | 1.32 |
I encourage people involved in a destructive environmental behavior to stop that activity. | 22.6 | 21.5 | 29.2 | 18.0 | 8.8 | 3.31 | 1.24 |
I encourage others to take an action on behalf of the environment. | 21.6 | 17.4 | 28.2 | 18.1 | 14.7 | 3.13 | 1.33 |
Total Scale | 3.34 | 0.68 |
Items | SA | A | U | D | SD | M | St D |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
We can all do our bit to reduce the effects of climate change. | 39.3 | 22.7 | 17.1 | 7.2 | 13.7 | 3.66 | 1.40 |
Climate change is inevitable because of the way modern society works. | 17.1 | 26.5 | 33.7 | 15.2 | 7.5 | 3.30 | 1.14 |
People should be made to reduce their energy consumption if it reduces climate change. | 25.1 | 31.2 | 19.8 | 12.2 | 11.7 | 3.45 | 1.30 |
I would only do my bit to reduce climate change if everyone else did as well. | 39.3 | 28.5 | 13.3 | 7.9 | 11.1 | 3.77 | 1.33 |
The government should encourage people to look after the environment | 40.2 | 20.6 | 12.7 | 8.8 | 17.7 | 3.56 | 1.51 |
Developing countries should take most of the blame for climate change. | 31.9 | 29.4 | 18.4 | 9.1 | 11.1 | 3.61 | 1.31 |
Radical changes to society are needed to tackle climate change. | 22.5 | 28.7 | 25.9 | 12.9 | 10.1 | 3.40 | 1.24 |
If I come across information about climate change I will tend to look at it. | 23.1 | 27.4 | 22.8 | 16.5 | 10.3 | 3.36 | 1.28 |
Leaving the lights on in my home adds to climate change. | 19.1 | 17.9 | 34 | 16.5 | 12.5 | 3.14 | 1.26 |
Climate change is a consequence of modern life. | 19.9 | 27.9 | 25.6 | 15.3 | 11.4 | 3.29 | 1.26 |
The effects of climate change are likely to be catastrophic. | 24.9 | 27.8 | 22.7 | 15.2 | 9.3 | 3.43 | 1.26 |
Pollution from industry is the main cause of climate change. | 26 | 26.7 | 22.3 | 15.0 | 10.0 | 3.43 | 1.29 |
Total Scale | 3.45 | 0.78 |
Items | SA | A | U | D | SD | M | St D |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Climate change will improve Türkiye’s weather. | 17 | 21.6 | 29.8 | 15.5 | 16.1 | 3.08 | 1.30 |
It is already too late to do anything about climate change. | 6.9 | 10.2 | 22.9 | 28.6 | 31.4 | 2.32 | 1.21 |
Human activities have no significant impact on global temperatures. | 7.7 | 12.0 | 16.8 | 25.2 | 38.3 | 2.25 | 1.28 |
I am uncertain about whether climate change is really happening. | 8.9 | 14.0 | 26.7 | 26.2 | 24.2 | 2.57 | 1.24 |
It is too early to say whether climate change is really a problem. | 12.1 | 14.6 | 29.8 | 27.0 | 16.6 | 2.78 | 1.23 |
The media is often too alarmist about issues like climate change. | 12.7 | 18.5 | 32.3 | 18.5 | 12.7 | 2.92 | 1.22 |
Flooding is not increasing, there is just more reporting of it in the media these days. | 12.7 | 20.2 | 29.3 | 20.0 | 17.7 | 2.90 | 1.26 |
I do not believe climate change is a real problem. | 12.4 | 14.7 | 22.6 | 24.1 | 26.2 | 2.63 | 1.34 |
Total Scale | 2.68 | 0.71 |
Part-Cor. | T | p | Β (Standard) | R | Adj. R2 | F | p | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Criterion Variable: CC-related Actions | 0.407 | 0.161 | 41.90 | 0.000 * | ||||
Belief in climate change | 0.21 | 5.51 | 0.000 * | 0.223 | ||||
Ecocentric Attitudes | 0.13 | 3.37 | 0.001 * | 0.161 | ||||
Anthropocentric Attitudes | 0.11 | 2.96 | 0.003 * | 0.132 |
Predictors | Female Mean | Male Mean | Λ | p | Correlation Coefficients | Standardized Coefficients |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Actions | 3.40 | 3.25 | 0.987 | 0.008 * | −0.36 | −0.25 |
Ecocentric Attitudes | 3.50 | 3.29 | 0.983 | 0.001 * | −0.45 | −0.39 |
Anthropocentric Attitudes | 3.21 | 3.25 | 0.999 | 0.534 | 0.09 | 0.34 |
Belief in Climate Change | 3.55 | 3.31 | 0.976 | 0.000 * | −0.54 | −0.35 |
Skepticism | 2.55 | 2.86 | 0.953 | 0.000 * | 0.76 | 0.68 |
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Seker, S.; Sahin, E.; Hacıeminoğlu, E.; Demirci, S. Do Teenagers Believe in Anthropogenic Climate Change and Take Action to Tackle It? Sustainability 2024, 16, 7005. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167005
Seker S, Sahin E, Hacıeminoğlu E, Demirci S. Do Teenagers Believe in Anthropogenic Climate Change and Take Action to Tackle It? Sustainability. 2024; 16(16):7005. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167005
Chicago/Turabian StyleSeker, Sema, Elvan Sahin, Esme Hacıeminoğlu, and Sinem Demirci. 2024. "Do Teenagers Believe in Anthropogenic Climate Change and Take Action to Tackle It?" Sustainability 16, no. 16: 7005. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167005
APA StyleSeker, S., Sahin, E., Hacıeminoğlu, E., & Demirci, S. (2024). Do Teenagers Believe in Anthropogenic Climate Change and Take Action to Tackle It? Sustainability, 16(16), 7005. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167005