Suchergebnisse

The environmental crisis poses a critical issue for current and future generations, driving research to investigate the key factors and psychological characteristics that motivate individuals to engage in pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs) from an early age. In this context, intergenerational transmission—which refers to how parents influence their children's behaviour—plays a crucial role in initiating and promoting eco-friendly practices. From a children-centred perspective, the current study focused on the intergenerational transmission of PEBs, addressing the moderating role of children's moral judgment. This latter was evaluated considering general moral judgment (i.e., moral transgressions, social-conventional transgressions, and non-harmful personal choices) and domain-specific environmental moral judgment (i.e., harmful actions with no specific victim, harmful actions to animals, and harmful actions to plants/trees). This study was carried out with 229 triads of Italian children (Mage = 8.54 years; SDage = 1.46 years; rangeage 6–11 years, 130 girls and 99 boys), fathers (Mage = 45.73 years; SDage = 5.07 years; rangeage 29–64 years), and mothers (Mage = 42.56 years; SDage = 4.67 years; rangeage 28–57 years). Results revealed that only the moral evaluations on harmful actions directed at animals (B = 0.32, SE = 0.15, t = 2.18, CI 95% = [0.030, 0.612]) and those towards plants/trees (B = 0.19, SE = 0.08, t = 2.49, CI 95% = [0.369, 0.342]) moderated the association between parents' PEBs and children's PEBs, boosting the intergenerational transmission of PEBs. Overall, this research yielded novel evidence on the main factors affecting the intergenerational transmission of PEBs, suggesting moral judgment as a critical mechanism in nurturing pro-environmental practices in school-age children. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

Background: Research in psychology has attempted to identify the main predictors and strategies that are useful to promote well-being. Although personality has been recognized as one of the main determinants of well-being, the primary mechanisms involved in this relationship are not fully disclosed. This research addressed the impact of pro-environmental behaviors in the interplay between the Big Five (openness, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism) and psychological well-being (eudaimonic). Methods: A total of 176 young adults (mean age = 21.55 years; SD age = 1.76 years; 114 F; mean education = 14.57 years; SD = 2.11 years) participated in this study. The participants were requested to complete a short battery of self-report questionnaires, including the Big Five Inventory-10, the Pro-environmental Behavior Questionnaire, and the Psychological Well-being Scale. Results: The results revealed that pro-environmental behaviors only mediated the association between agreeableness and eudaimonic well-being (B = 2.25, BootSE = 1.26, BootCIs 95% [0.149, 5.050]). Conclusions: These findings contributed to identifying the potential mechanisms through which personality contributes to individual eudaimonic well-being, also providing insights into the development of promoting interventions based on eco-sustainable behaviors. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.