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Understanding late adolescents’ moral responsibility for climate change: The role of social-ecological factors, worry, and distancing
Örebro University, School of Behavioural, Social and Legal Sciences.ORCID iD: 0009-0007-0962-146X
Örebro University, School of Behavioural, Social and Legal Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0097-4035
Örebro University, School of Behavioural, Social and Legal Sciences. Frontiers of Arctic and Global Resilience (FRONT), Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Oulu, Finland.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6613-5974
2026 (English)In: Journal of Environmental Psychology, ISSN 0272-4944, E-ISSN 1522-9610, Vol. 109, article id 102879Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Addressing climate change requires people in the Global North to avoid high-impact behaviors like car use and air travel. Late adolescents, whose engagement in such behaviors may be restricted by age and parental decision-making, are in a crucial stage for developing a sense of moral responsibility for climate change. Understandingwhy some adolescents cultivate this responsibility is vital, as responsibility relates to both pro-environmentalengagement and well-being. Therefore, this study aims to identify factors associated with late adolescents’sense of moral responsibility. Nature connectedness, parental descriptive norms, and macro climate-changeworry have been positively linked to pro-environmental behavior in previous research, but their role in rela-tion to moral responsibility regarding climate change remains less clear. Similarly, the relationship betweendistancing coping and moral responsibility is yet to be fully understood. In this study we explore ways that thesefactors are associated with late adolescents’ moral responsibility and examine whether these relationships differbetween girls and boys. In 2023, we surveyed 619 Swedish high school students (ages 16–20). We used structuralequation modeling to answer our research questions. Connectedness to nature, parental norms, worry, anddistancing coping were positively associated with responsibility, with parental norms having a stronger effect forboys. Worry partially mediated how parental norms and nature connectedness related to responsibility, with astronger mediation effect for girls in the latter relationship. Distancing coping did not moderate the relationshipbetween worry and responsibility. Our findings are interpreted within social-ecological and emotion-normframeworks, and we suggest promoting responsibility through nature connectedness, role modeling, andconstructive worry management. Limitations, including those related to cross-sectional designs, are discussed. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2026. Vol. 109, article id 102879
Keywords [en]
Climate-change, Adolescents, Nature connectedness, Social norms, Worry, Moral responsibility
National Category
Psychology
Research subject
Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-125563DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102879ISI: 001640016000001OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-125563DiVA, id: diva2:2021181
Funder
Örebro UniversitySwedish Research Council, 2021–04607Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, 2021–00592Available from: 2025-12-12 Created: 2025-12-12 Last updated: 2026-01-16Bibliographically approved

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Rikner Martinsson, AmandaGlatz, TereseOjala, Maria

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