| Title |
The impact of parenthood on environmental attitudes and behaviour: a longitudinal investigation of the legacy hypothesis
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Population and Environment, December 2017
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s11111-017-0291-1 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Gregory O. Thomas, Rose Fisher, Lorraine Whitmarsh, Taciano L. Milfont, Wouter Poortinga |
| Abstract |
Willingness to engage in sustainable actions may be limited by the psychological distance of climate change. In this study, we test the legacy hypothesis, which holds that having children leads parents to consider the legacy left to offspring in respect of environmental quality. Using the Understanding Society dataset, a longitudinal survey representative of the UK population (n = 18,176), we assess how having children may change people's individual environmental attitudes and behaviour. Results indicate that having a new child is associated with a small decrease in the frequency of a few environmental behaviours. Only parents with already high environmental concern show a small increase in the desire to act more sustainably after the birth of their first child. Overall, the results do not provide evidence in support of the legacy hypothesis in terms of individual-level environmental attitudes and behaviours. We argue that the transition to parenthood is a time where concern is prioritised on the immediate wellbeing of the child and not on the future environmental threats. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 94 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 17 | 18% |
| Germany | 11 | 12% |
| United States | 5 | 5% |
| Australia | 4 | 4% |
| Spain | 3 | 3% |
| India | 2 | 2% |
| Denmark | 2 | 2% |
| Netherlands | 1 | 1% |
| Mexico | 1 | 1% |
| Other | 4 | 4% |
| Unknown | 44 | 47% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 71 | 76% |
| Scientists | 13 | 14% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 6 | 6% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 4 | 4% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 154 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 154 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 26 | 17% |
| Student > Bachelor | 14 | 9% |
| Researcher | 12 | 8% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 11 | 7% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 9 | 6% |
| Other | 27 | 18% |
| Unknown | 55 | 36% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Social Sciences | 27 | 18% |
| Psychology | 24 | 16% |
| Environmental Science | 9 | 6% |
| Business, Management and Accounting | 8 | 5% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 5 | 3% |
| Other | 16 | 10% |
| Unknown | 65 | 42% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 96. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 15 November 2023.
All research outputs
#460,847
of 26,170,906 outputs
Outputs from Population and Environment
#14
of 371 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#10,199
of 451,394 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Population and Environment
#1
of 4 outputs
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