Family congruence in sustainability attitudes and behaviour; an analysis of a household survey in Belgium.

Abstract

In this paper, I investigated whether the sustainability attitudes and behaviour of young people are similar to those of the older generation. Furthermore, I examined to which extent today’s parents play a role as socialization agents in shaping the broader sustainability attitudes and behaviour of their children by investigating whether specific family characteristics are important to explain this association. The research questions were analysed by using data from a Belgian study conducted among Flemish pupils from 47 primary and secondary schools and one of their parents (n = 880). I found that children’s attitudes towards sustainability are higher compared to those of the older generation (e.g. their parents) but that the older generation, on the contrary, act more sustainably. Furthermore, there were small but positive correlations within the family for sustainability attitudes and behaviour. Finally, the results showed that increased intrafamily discussions are associated with more sustainable attitudinal parent–child congruence. However, the results did not provide evidence in support of behavioural congruence. It was concluded that the transmission of sustainability attitudes and behaviour is not limited to the classic top-down approach where parents influence children’s attitudes and behaviour and children are considered as passive recipients.