Date of Award
8-1-2024
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Geography and Environmental Resources
First Advisor
Hurst, Kristin
Abstract
A large and growing body of research has provided a comprehensive understanding of the current adult generations’ beliefs relating to climate change, but what about the younger generations growing up in a time of climate crisis? Younger generations will be more burdened by the increasingly severe effects of climate change due to its temporal progression. As the younger generations experience these effects, they will have a better understanding of how to mitigate and adapt to them. To better understand this, we conducted a multivariate hierarchical linear regression model to examine the extent to which 1) county-level social, geographic, and biophysical factors and 2) individual-level demographic and socio-psychological factors influenced adolescents’ climate beliefs and risk perceptions. We obtained our data though an online survey of 226 middle school and high school students from across the United States and county-level data sourced from the US Census Bureau, the Yale Climate Opinion Maps, and Four Twenty-Seven. Preliminary results suggest that the most influential factor that leads to a better understanding of climate change is not necessarily geographically based, but rather through interpersonal communication about climate change in the adolescent’s personal life. This research informs our understanding of how younger generations can be influenced to make better decisions relating to climate change and other environmental issues that would require a long-term collective approach to solve.
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