Graduation Term

2022

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Jordan Arellanes

Committee Member

Eric Wesselmann

Abstract

Climate change continues to be an ever-growing threat to human development, and it is considered the most significant global health threat of the 21st century (Watts et al. 2017). Environmental commitment, risk perceptions, and mindfulness have been explored independently, yet no studies examine the intersectionality of these three relationships. Meanwhile, emerging adulthood and ethnicity are two factors that have not been studied regarding how they impact environmental commitment, risk perceptions, and mindfulness. Krettenauer and colleagues (2017, 2019) states that emerging adulthood plays a vital role regarding their commitment to the environment. The general hypothesis was that risk perception and mindfulness would positively relate to environmental commitment. At the same time, mindfulness would also serve as a moderator for predicting the relationship between risk perceptions and environmental commitment. With a total of 206 participants, I ran bivariate correlations, a regression analysis, and three between-samples t-tests to test the hypotheses. Overall, risk perception was highly related to environmental commitment, whereas mindfulness was not and did not moderate the relationship between them. Thus, with more emerging adults perceiving climate change risk, the more environmentally committed they are. This study did not demonstrate a difference in ethnicities, specifically between Latinx vs. non-Latinx emerging adults. This study, therefore, works to advance research in this field, creating a more inclusive sample and focusing on the developmental period of emerging adulthood.

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

DOI

https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2022.20220705065052825671.999979

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