What drives pro-environmental behavior? Investigating the role of eco-worry and eco-anxiety in young adults

Climate change (CC) is one of the most urgent challenges of our time. Research suggests that pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) are essential to address this crisis, encompassing sustainable consumption (e.g., recycling or saving energy) and active participation (e.g., protesting or donating). In thi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: López García, Laura, Latorre, Felisa, Vecina Jiménez, María Luisa, Díaz Silveira, Cintia
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/129102
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/129102
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Eco-worry
Pro-environmental behavior
Eco-anxiety
Sustainable consumption
Active participation
Young adults
Willingness
Agency
Psicología (Psicología)
61 Psicología
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spelling What drives pro-environmental behavior? Investigating the role of eco-worry and eco-anxiety in young adultsLópez García, LauraLatorre, FelisaVecina Jiménez, María LuisaDíaz Silveira, CintiaEco-worryPro-environmental behaviorEco-worryEco-anxietySustainable consumptionActive participationYoung adultsWillingnessAgencyPsicología (Psicología)61 PsicologíaClimate change (CC) is one of the most urgent challenges of our time. Research suggests that pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) are essential to address this crisis, encompassing sustainable consumption (e.g., recycling or saving energy) and active participation (e.g., protesting or donating). In this regard, young adults play a significant role as change agents. Considering the previous literature affirming the importance of CC emotions on PEB, this study aims to analyze the mediating role of eco-worry and eco-anxiety in the relationship between two cognitive antecedents (general willingness to behave pro-environmentally and CC agency) and two types of PEB (sustainable consumption and active participation). To do so, we gathered a sample of 308 young adults aged 18 to 30 years. Results show that eco-worry mediates the relationships between both antecedents (willingness and CC agency) with sustainable consumption and active participation. In contrast, eco-anxiety in young adults only mediates the relationship between CC agency and active participation. Our findings suggest that eco-worry plays a crucial role in promoting PEB more broadly, while eco-anxiety appears to be only relevant in influencing active participation. These results contrast with others observed in the adult population, so further studies are needed to confirm these findings.MDPIUniversidad Complutense de Madrid20252025-05-1620252025-05-16journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/129102reponame:Docta Complutenseinstname:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Attribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/1291022026-06-02T12:44:21Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv What drives pro-environmental behavior? Investigating the role of eco-worry and eco-anxiety in young adults
title What drives pro-environmental behavior? Investigating the role of eco-worry and eco-anxiety in young adults
spellingShingle What drives pro-environmental behavior? Investigating the role of eco-worry and eco-anxiety in young adults
López García, Laura
Eco-worry
Pro-environmental behavior
Eco-worry
Eco-anxiety
Sustainable consumption
Active participation
Young adults
Willingness
Agency
Psicología (Psicología)
61 Psicología
title_short What drives pro-environmental behavior? Investigating the role of eco-worry and eco-anxiety in young adults
title_full What drives pro-environmental behavior? Investigating the role of eco-worry and eco-anxiety in young adults
title_fullStr What drives pro-environmental behavior? Investigating the role of eco-worry and eco-anxiety in young adults
title_full_unstemmed What drives pro-environmental behavior? Investigating the role of eco-worry and eco-anxiety in young adults
title_sort What drives pro-environmental behavior? Investigating the role of eco-worry and eco-anxiety in young adults
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv López García, Laura
Latorre, Felisa
Vecina Jiménez, María Luisa
Díaz Silveira, Cintia
author López García, Laura
author_facet López García, Laura
Latorre, Felisa
Vecina Jiménez, María Luisa
Díaz Silveira, Cintia
author_role author
author2 Latorre, Felisa
Vecina Jiménez, María Luisa
Díaz Silveira, Cintia
author2_role author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universidad Complutense de Madrid
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Eco-worry
Pro-environmental behavior
Eco-worry
Eco-anxiety
Sustainable consumption
Active participation
Young adults
Willingness
Agency
Psicología (Psicología)
61 Psicología
topic Eco-worry
Pro-environmental behavior
Eco-worry
Eco-anxiety
Sustainable consumption
Active participation
Young adults
Willingness
Agency
Psicología (Psicología)
61 Psicología
description Climate change (CC) is one of the most urgent challenges of our time. Research suggests that pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) are essential to address this crisis, encompassing sustainable consumption (e.g., recycling or saving energy) and active participation (e.g., protesting or donating). In this regard, young adults play a significant role as change agents. Considering the previous literature affirming the importance of CC emotions on PEB, this study aims to analyze the mediating role of eco-worry and eco-anxiety in the relationship between two cognitive antecedents (general willingness to behave pro-environmentally and CC agency) and two types of PEB (sustainable consumption and active participation). To do so, we gathered a sample of 308 young adults aged 18 to 30 years. Results show that eco-worry mediates the relationships between both antecedents (willingness and CC agency) with sustainable consumption and active participation. In contrast, eco-anxiety in young adults only mediates the relationship between CC agency and active participation. Our findings suggest that eco-worry plays a crucial role in promoting PEB more broadly, while eco-anxiety appears to be only relevant in influencing active participation. These results contrast with others observed in the adult population, so further studies are needed to confirm these findings.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025-05-16
2025
2025-05-16
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/129102
url https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/129102
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Docta Complutense
instname:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
instname_str Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
reponame_str Docta Complutense
collection Docta Complutense
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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