van de Wetering Judith, Grapsas Stathis, Poorthuis Astrid, Thomaes Sander
Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Department of Education and Pedagogy, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
J Res Adolesc. 2025 Mar;35(1):e13044. doi: 10.1111/jora.13044. Epub 2024 Dec 10.
Most adolescents are concerned about climate change. What helps them to act on their concerns? This preregistered randomized experiment tested whether adolescents' pro-environmental behavior can be promoted by framing the behavior as compatible with their autonomy motive. Dutch adolescents (N = 319, ages 12-17, 57.7% girls, predominantly indicating "Dutch" or "bicultural" identities) viewed a campaign-style video that explained the causes of climate change (all conditions), and additionally framed pro-environmental behavior as a personal choice (volition-alignment), opportunity to rebel (rebellion-alignment), or mandatory (misalignment). Rebellion-alignment increased pro-environmental behavior intentions and petitioning behavior; misalignment decreased pro-environmental donating behavior. Effect sizes were small to medium. These findings provide proof of concept that motive alignment can be effective in promoting adolescents' pro-environmental engagement.
大多数青少年都关心气候变化。是什么促使他们将自己的关切付诸行动？这项预先注册的随机实验测试了将亲环境行为表述为与其自主动机相符，是否能够促进青少年的亲环境行为。荷兰青少年（N = 319，年龄在12至17岁之间，57.7%为女孩，主要表明具有“荷兰”或“双文化”身份）观看了一段解释气候变化原因的宣传视频（所有条件下），此外，视频还将亲环境行为表述为个人选择（意志契合）、反抗机会（反抗契合）或强制行为（不契合）。反抗契合增加了亲环境行为意图和请愿行为；不契合则降低了亲环境捐赠行为。效应大小为小到中等。这些发现提供了概念验证，即动机契合在促进青少年的亲环境参与方面可能是有效的。
