Project Portugal 2030

Summary

The project comprises five distinct studies, each contributing to specific goals and a holistic understanding of the dynamics influencing adolescents' engagement with environmental issues. STUDY 1. REVIEWING THE DETERMINANTS OF ADOLESCENTS PRO-ENVIRONMENTALISM (PE): We will conduct a systematic literature review to identify and summarize the psychological, socioeconomic, and cultural determinants of adolescents' PE, namely pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. Summarizing the relevant literature on this topic will provide essential insights for developing the current project’s subsequent studies. STUDY 2. MEASURE OF ADOLESCENCE-ADJUSTED ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT (EF): We aim to develop a measure of EF tailored to quantify the impact of adolescents' Environmentally Relevant Behaviors (ERB). This measure of EF will account for adolescents' financial constraints, parental dependency, and typical consumption patterns, among other age-related specificities. Our specific goals are: (1) to cover key ERB in critical life domains, such as resource consumption, waste management, energy use, and transportation; (2) to pilot the EF measure, evaluating its feasibility, and acceptability under real-world conditions. This measure will be made publicly available to the community and used subsequently in the current research project to describe Portuguese adolescents' EF. STUDY 3. CHARACTERIZING PORTUGUESE ADOLESCENTS’ PE AND EF: Guided by insights from the preceding studies and using a nationally representative sample, Study 3 aims at: (1) Characterizing Portuguese adolescents' PE, namely their pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors; (2) Quantifying adolescents' EF; (3) Examining the environmental attitude-behavior gap among the adolescent population; (4) Clarifying the links between psychological, socioeconomic, and cultural factors, and adolescents' PE and EF; (5) Understanding the factors that minimize the environmental attitude-behavior gap. STUDY 4. ANALYZING STABILITY AND CHANGE IN ADOLESCENTS' PE: Framed by the Self-Determination Theory (SDT), we will investigate the link between adolescents' basic psychological needs, their sense of personal agency, and the development of PE over time. We will implement a three-time points longitudinal study on a large, randomly selected sample of adolescents residing in the Porto Metropolitan region. The goals are to: (1) characterize the stability and change of pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors across late adolescence; (2) identify and describe clusters of adolescents based on their developmental trajectories of PE; (3) Investigate the extent to which PE trajectories are affected by adolescents' basic psychological needs and sense of personal agency. STUDY 5. UNDERSTANDING DAILY VARIATIONS IN ADOLESCENTS' ERB: We will investigate the patterns and drivers of the day-to-day fluctuations in adolescents' ERB. Considering a well-powered, randomly selected sample of adolescents residing in the Porto Metropolitan region, we will employ a daily diary method to collect intensive day-to-day data on adolescents' ERB linked to energy consumption, waste management, transportation choices, water usage, and dietary habits. Our goals are to: (1) examine the daily variations of adolescents' ERB; (2) clarify whether the interplay between family, school, and peer routine activities and adolescents' daily mood and life satisfaction can explain day-to-day variations in ERB.