Toward the Development and Validation of a Model of Environmental Citizenship of Young Adults

Abstract

Growing civic participation in environmental movements shows that societies are more engaging in behavior that can be described as environmental citizenship. This behavior, however, may not necessarily be driven by factual knowledge and accurate beliefs. In the present study, a simplified model of environmental citizenship proposed by Hawthorne and Alabaster is tested in a sample of Lithuanian young adults in order to develop a working model of environmental citizenship that could be later used in intervention designs as a change model. A convenience sample of 267 young adults from 18 to 40 years of age participated in the study by filling in a questionnaire that assessed various components that comprise a model of environmental citizenship. The results indicate that, with a few modifications to better fit the data, the model fit the data well and could explain approximately 50% of the variance of environmental citizenship. The study uncovered a gap between factual (concrete) environmental knowledge and environmental literacy (perceived competence), illustrating the need to address this divide in order to ensure evidence-based participation in environmental movements and environmental citizenship behavior.