The Influence of Values and Social Environment on Parents’ Environmental Attitudes: Lithuanian Case Study

Abstract

The conducted research reveals the significance of parents’ values and social environment factors, and their influence on pro-ecological attitudes. Parents from Lithuania were invited to participate in the study by filling out a questionnaire that aimed to assess their personal and ecological values, as well as factors of their social environment; the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale was used to assessed the pro-ecological attitude of the respondents. The results demonstrate that, among the personal values of parents, money takes a place of priority, but this cannot be treated only in the context of materialism, because parents seek the good of their children by fulfilling their needs, while also contributing to their education regarding financial literacy and consumption. In the context of ecological values, the results reveal the values of safe food and fresh air, showing how much parents care about their own and their children’s health, as well as noting air pollution as one of the pressing eco-problems. The results also show that family and school are factors of the social environment that most significantly influence parents’ pro-ecological attitude. The results reveal the respondents’ overall support for a pro-environmental worldview, and that parents who are older, more educated and live in the city are more likely to have a pro-environmental attitude.