Social norms and climate-friendly behavior of adolescents.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Koessler AK
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9045838 | biostudies-literature | 2022
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Social norms and climate-friendly behavior of adolescents.
Koessler Ann-Kathrin AK Vorlaufer Tobias T Fiebelkorn Florian F
PloS one 20220427 4
Adolescents are the decision-makers of the future, and as educational research shows, behaviors, habits, and attitudes established at young age strongly shape behavior in adulthood. Therefore, it is important to understand what factors shape young people's climate-relevant behavior. In this study, we examine how information about peer behavior affects adolescents' perception of prevailing social norms and own decision-making. Experimentally, we manipulated whether adolescents received informatio ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:Most people in the United States recognize the reality of climate change and are concerned about its consequences, yet climate change is a low priority relative to other policy issues. Recognizing that belief in climate change does not necessarily translate to prioritizing climate policy, we examine psychological factors that may boost or inhibit prioritization. We hypothesized that perceived social norms from people's own political party influence their climate policy prioritization beyond their personal belief in climate change. In Study 1, a large, diverse sample of Democratic and Republican participants (N = 887) reported their prioritization of climate policy relative to other issues. Participants' perceptions of their political ingroup's social norms about climate policy prioritization were the strongest predictor of personal climate policy prioritization-stronger even than participants' belief in climate change, political orientation, environmental identity, and environmental values. Perceptions of political outgroup norms did not predict prioritization. In Study 2 (N = 217), we experimentally manipulated Democratic and Republican descriptive norms of climate policy prioritization. Participants' prioritization of climate policy was highest when both the political ingroup and the outgroup prioritized climate policy. Ingroup norms had a strong influence on personal policy prioritization whereas outgroup norms did not. These findings demonstrate that, beyond personal beliefs and other individual differences, ingroup social norms shape the public's prioritization of climate change as a policy issue.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10584-022-03396-x.
| S-EPMC9289929 | biostudies-literature
Project description:We compare social preference and social norm based explanations for peer effects in a three-person gift-exchange experiment. In the experiment a principal pays a wage to each of two agents, who then make effort choices sequentially. In our baseline treatment we observe that the second agent's effort is influenced by the effort choice of the first agent, even though there are no material spillovers between agents. This peer effect is predicted by the Fehr-Schmidt (1999) model of social preferences. As we show from a norms-elicitation experiment, it is also consistent with social norms compliance. A conditional logit investigation of the explanatory power of payoff inequality and elicited norms finds that the second agent's effort is best explained by the social preferences model. In further experiments we find that the peer effects change as predicted by the social preferences model. Again, a conditional logit analysis favors an explanation based on social preferences, rather than social norms. Our results suggest that, in our context, the social preferences model provides a parsimonious explanation for the observed peer effect.
| S-EPMC5443401 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionBesides societal and governmental actions to mitigate greenhouse gases, individual behavioral changes are also urgently needed to limit global temperature rise. However, these individual changes have proven to be difficult to achieve in the general population.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review in five electronic databases with the aim of systematically depicting the content of interventions that promote climate-friendly behavior in individuals and households in high- and upper-middle-income countries.ResultsWe included 25 studies. The analyses included identification of the used Behavior Change Techniques (BCTs) and comparison of their promise ratio. Across our three outcome categories energy consumption, water consumption, and mobility the most frequently used BCT categories are not the ones that are most promising in terms of behavior change.DiscussionBased on these results, our recommendation for climate change mitigation interventions is to include components that provide concrete instructions on how to perform the desired behavior (shaping knowledge), setting goals and commitments (goals and planning), substituting undesired behavior, and practicing desired behavior (repetition and substitution). Other reviews with similar aims use different wordings, definitions, or degrees of detail in their intervention component labelling which makes it difficult to compare the results. We recommend to use a standardized classification system, like the BCT taxonomy in combination with the promise ratio, which this study has shown to be a suitable tool to classify applied intervention techniques and give an indication of successful techniques.
| S-EPMC11345743 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveImplicit attitudes toward alcohol predict drinking among adults and adolescents. If implicit attitudes reflected associations learned through direct experience with drinking, then they would likely only predict drinking among individuals who have previously consumed alcohol. In contrast, if implicit attitudes reflected indirect experience through social messages, they might also then predict future drinking, even among individuals with no drinking experience. In this study, we tested whether implicit attitudes would predict initiation of drinking for the first time, and whether parents' and friends' norms toward alcohol would influence the development of implicit attitudes.MethodFor this study, we followed 868 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 years for 3 years. Implicit attitudes were measured using the affect misattribution procedure (Payne, Cheng, Govorun, & Stewart, 2005; Payne, Govorun, & Arbuckle, 2008). Explicit intentions to drink and the frequency of drinking and binge drinking were measured at each of 3 annual waves.ResultsImplicit attitudes toward alcohol predicted future drinking behavior 1 year later, and effects were similar for adolescents who had previously tried alcohol and for those who had not. To understand what factors might shape implicit attitudes among participants without drinking experience, we examined the role of parental norms and friends' norms toward drinking. Parental approval of drinking predicted the development of more positive implicit attitudes, which in turn predicted later drinking.ConclusionImplicit attitudes toward alcohol can develop in advance of direct experience drinking alcohol. Results have implications for the implicit processes underpinning adolescent drinking, and the processes by which implicit associations are learned. (PsycINFO Database Record
| S-EPMC4979559 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Little is known about the personality and cognitive traits that shape adolescents' sensitivity to social norms. Further, few studies have harnessed novel empirical tools to elicit sensitivity to social norms among adolescent populations. This paper examines the association between sensitivity to norms and various personality and cognitive traits using an incentivised rule-following task grounded in Game Theory. Cross-sectional data were obtained from 1274 adolescents. Self-administered questionnaires were used to measure personality traits as well as other psychosocial characteristics. Incentivised rule-following experiments gauged sensitivity to social norms. A series of multilevel mixed effects ordered logistic regression models were employed to assess the association between sensitivity to norms and the personality and cognitive traits. The results highlighted statistically significant univariate associations between the personality and cognitive traits and sensitivity to norms. However, in the multivariate adjusted model, the only factor associated with sensitivity to norms was gender. The gender-stratified analyses revealed differences in the personality and cognitive traits associated with sensitivity to norms across genders. For males need to belong was significantly negatively associated with sensitivity to norms in the multivariate model. By comparison, emotional stability was negatively associated with sensitivity to norms for females. This study reinforced the findings from an earlier study and suggested female adolescents had higher levels of sensitivity to norms. The results indicated no consistent pattern between sensitivity to norms and the personality and cognitive traits. Our findings provide a basis for further empirical research on a relatively nascent construct, and bring a fresh perspective to the question of norm-following preferences among this age group.
| S-EPMC9463150 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Although the suicidal and self-harming behaviour of individuals is often associated with similar behaviours in people they know, little is known about the impact of perceived social norms on those behaviours. In a range of other behavioural domains (e.g., alcohol consumption, smoking, eating behaviours) perceived social norms have been found to strongly predict individuals' engagement in those behaviours, although discrepancies often exist between perceived and reported norms. Interventions which align perceived norms more closely with reported norms have been effective in reducing damaging behaviours. The current study aimed to explore whether the Social Norms Approach is applicable to suicidal and self-harming behaviours in adolescents. Participants were 456 pupils from five Scottish high-schools (53% female, mean age = 14.98 years), who completed anonymous, cross-sectional surveys examining reported and perceived norms around suicidal and self-harming behaviour. Friedman's ANOVA with post-hoc Wilcoxen signed-ranks tests indicated that proximal groups were perceived as less likely to engage in or be permissive of suicidal and self-harming behaviours than participants' reported themselves, whilst distal groups tended towards being perceived as more likely to do so. Binary logistic regression analyses identified a number of perceived norms associated with reported norms, with close friends' norms positively associated with all outcome variables. The Social Norms Approach may be applicable to suicidal and self-harming behaviour, but associations between perceived and reported norms and predictors of reported norms differ to those found in other behavioural domains. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are considered.
| S-EPMC5369143 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Many past cannabis prevention campaigns have proven largely ineffective due in part to the diversity of adolescents' cannabis-relevant beliefs. The current studies evaluated the impact of a sequential multiple message approach tailored to the usage norms of adolescents expressing negative attitudes toward a cannabis prevention appeal. A multiple-message strategy was implemented-initial unfavorable message evaluations were invalidated using attitudinal rebuttal feedback prior to presenting a third tailored communication. Participants were cannabis-abstinent middle and high school students (ages 11 to 16). Study 1 (N = 808) compared effects of gain- and loss-framed messages tailored to each student's normative usage perceptions. In Study 2 (N = 391), students were randomly assigned to receive a tailored or non-tailored message after receiving feedback meant to destabilize anti-message attitudes. For at-risk adolescents in Study 1 who perceived cannabis use as normative, a tailored gain-framed message resulted in the lowest usage intentions (p < .05). In Study 2, a conditional multiple-moderated mediation model showed that for high-risk teens with normative beliefs and pro-cannabis attitudes, exposure to a tailored gain-framed communication was associated with decreased cannabis attitude certainty, and lower usage intentions 2 months later (p < .05). Findings have implications for sequential messaging utilization in mass media campaigns and support the efficacy of tailored messages over a one-size-fits-all media approach. Further, results suggest that systematically weakening resistance to persuasive communications and tailoring messages consistent with individually perceived peer norms is an effective prevention strategy.
| S-EPMC8257086 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Sexual minority adolescents are more likely than their heterosexual peers to use substances. This study tested factors that contribute to sexual orientation disparities in substance use among racially and ethnically diverse adolescents. Specifically, we examined how both minority stress (i.e., homophobic bullying) and social norms (i.e., descriptive and injunctive norms) may account for sexual orientation disparities in recent and lifetime use of four substances: tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and prescription drugs. PROCEDURES:A probability sample of middle and high school students (N=3012; aged 11-18 years old; 71.2% racial and ethnic minorities) using random cluster methods was obtained in a mid-size school district in the Southeastern United States. RESULTS:Sexual minority adolescents were more likely than heterosexual adolescents to use substances, experience homophobic bullying, and report higher descriptive norms for close friends and more permissive injunctive norms for friends and parents. While accounting for sociodemographic characteristics, multiple mediation models concurrently testing all mediators indicated that higher descriptive and more permissive injunctive norms were significant mediators of the associations between sexual orientation and recent and lifetime use of the four substances, whereas homophobic bullying was not a significant mediator of the associations between sexual orientation and recent and lifetime use of any of the substances. CONCLUSIONS:Descriptive and injunctive norms, in conjunction with minority stress, are important to consider in explaining sexual orientation disparities in substance use among racially diverse adolescents. These results have implications for substance use interventions among sexual minority adolescents.
| S-EPMC5575887 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe current and future harms caused by climate change are highly distressing. Different theoretical models suggest diverse impacts of distress on behavior. We examined how psychological distress, climate change distress, and social norms may foster or impede climate change activism.MethodsAs part of an ongoing online longitudinal study in the US beginning in March 2020, respondents were assessed on their depressive symptoms (CES-D 10), climate change distress, climate change mitigation social norms, and six outcomes of the climate change activism behaviors of writing letters, e-mailing, or phoning government officials; voting for candidates who support measures to reduce climate change; signing petitions; volunteering with organizations; donating money to organizations; and attending protests.ResultsOf the 775 respondents, 53% were female, 72% white, 12% Black, 7% Hispanic, and 6% Asian. Climate change social norms predicted all six climate change actions in the bivariate and multivariable cross-sectional logistic regression models. A similar finding was observed with the brief climate change distress scale (BCCDS), except it was not associated with volunteering in the multivariable model. Depressive symptoms were associated with greater odds of contacting government officials and signing petitions in the bivariate models but did not retain significance in the multivariable models. Longitudinal models indicated a weak association between depressive symptoms and climate change activism.ConclusionsClimate change distress and social norms are positively associated with climate change activism. Although climate change distress may not usually impede climate change activism, organizations addressing climate change should consider providing social support to members and assisting those with high levels of psychological and climate change distress. Social norms around climate change activism should be fostered.
| S-EPMC9910281 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Social norms around adolescent risky health behaviors have been often studied in separate developmental settings (e.g., family norms, peer norms), and little is known regarding the overall patterns of social norms across contexts and how they influence adolescent risky health behaviors. This study explored profiles of social norms around risky health behaviors across family, peer, and school settings, using data from 11,086 adolescents (50% female; 49% White, 22% Black, 18% Latinx, 8% Asian American, 3% other race/ethnicities) in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Five profiles of social norms around risky health behaviors emerged. Only a small portion of the sample experienced either congruent-restrictive (6%) or congruent-permissive (10%) social norms across settings. The majority experienced incongruent social norms, including the developmentally normative-low risk (39%), developmentally normative-high risk (40%), and resilient (5%) profiles. Adolescents with the congruent-restrictive profile and developmentally normative-low risk profiles exhibited the least risky health behaviors over time, followed by those with the resilient profile, and adolescents with the developmentally normative-high risk and the congruent-permissive profile exhibited the greatest risky health behaviors over time. Each profile was associated with unique developmental, socio-demographic, and psychosocial characteristics. The findings highlighted the complexity of social norms across contexts and the developmental versus risky natures of these social norm profiles.
| S-EPMC6508974 | biostudies-literature