From concern to behavior: barriers and enablers of adolescents’ pro-environmental behavior in a school context

Abstract

This article focuses on factors influencing adolescents’ environmental behavior and approaches to promote adolescents’ pro-environmental behavior in a school context. The study also explores the possibilities provided by environmental behavior research to environmental education (EE). The study is based on a qualitative meta-analysis, which suggests that a lack of support from home or school, unpleasant emotions, lack of motivation, norms, lack of authoritative space, lack of concrete actions, and the media may prevent students from acting in an environmentally responsible manner. Moreover, the meta-analysis presents enabling and fostering factors to overcome the barriers to pro-environmental behavior. Lastly, the study proposes an educational model that promotes pro-environmental behavior and could be applied to adolescents’ school education.