IPPA WC 2023 Sunny skies ahead? Climate concern moderates the relationship between dispositional hope and hope about climate change among young adults (#666)
Background
As society grows increasingly concerned about the impending threat of global climate change, young people in particular report feeling anxious, angry, and helpless (Marks et al., 2021). Snyder et al.’s (1991) theory of hope may help to understand what promotes agency around climate action. Adolescents and adults who report higher levels of hope about the climate engage in more individual pro-environment behaviors (Kerret et al., 2016; Ojala, 2012) and report higher levels of dispositional hope (Li & Monroe, 2017). However, no research to date has considered how climate perceptions affect these relationships.
Aims
The present study aimed to understand the role of dispositional hope, optimism, and climate perceptions in predicting climate hope. It was hypothesized that optimism and dispositional hope would predict climate hope, and that alarm about climate change would moderate the relationship such that those feeling most alarmed would be least likely to generalize dispositional hope to hope regarding climate change.
Method
A diverse sample of 278 US young adults (aged 18-35, 49% male, 57% white) were recruited via CloudResearch. Participants completed Snyder’s Adult Hope Scale, the Life Orientation Test-Revised, the Climate Hope Scale, and the Six Americas Climate Change Perceptions Inventory.
Results
Results demonstrated that hope (r=.374) and optimism (r=.267) were both positively correlated with climate hope. However, only dispositional hope (β=.342, p<.001) and not optimism (β=.070, p=.358) made a significant contribution in predicting climate hope when entered into a model together. While climate alarm did significantly moderate the relationship between dispositional and climate hope (f2=.030), the moderation occurred such that higher levels of alarm predicted a stronger relationship between climate and dispositional hope.
Conclusion
Results suggest that dispositional hope may a buffer against negative emotions and hopelessness about climate change, fostering a sense of personal and communal agency to address this ecological threat. Further, results highlight dispositional hope as a protective asset in the face of global adversity.
- Kerret, D., Orkibi, H., & Ronen, T. (2016). Testing a model linking environmental hope and self-control with students' positive emotions and environmental behavior. The Journal of Environmental Education, 47(4), 307-317.
- Li, C., & Monroe, M. C. (2018). Development and Validation of the Climate Change Hope Scale for High School Students. Environment and Behavior, 50(4), 454–479. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916517708325
- Marks, E., Hickman, C., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, E. R., Mayall, E. E., ... & van Susteren, L. Young People's Voices on Climate Anxiety, Government Betrayal and Moral Injury: A Global Phenomenon. Government Betrayal and Moral Injury: A Global Phenomenon. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3918955
- Ojala, M. (2012). Hope and climate change: The importance of hope for environmental engagement among young people. Environmental Education Research, 18(5), 625-642.
- Snyder, C. R., Harris, C., Anderson, J. R., Holleran, S. a, Irving, L. M., Sigmon, S. T., Yoshinobu, L., et al. (1991). The will and the ways: development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(4), 570-85.
- Please select up to 3 keywords from the following list to best describe your submission content: Environment and Nature, Motivation, Positive emotions
