Meat, Water, and Clothing: Insights into Italian Youth’s Willingness to Adopt Sustainable Behaviors

Gabriele Lombardi , University of Florence
Alessio Muscillo, University of Siena
Elena Sestini, University of Siena
Francesca Garbin, Charles River Associates
Elisa Castellaccio, University of Bologna
Paolo Pin, University of Siena

This article examines the characteristics of Italian adolescents regarding their willingness to adopt pro-sustainable behaviors and investigates the most convincing arguments for fostering these attitudes. Adolescence is a critical period for behavior change, particularly in terms of pro-environmental behavior. Pro-environmental intentions among adolescents are influenced by their awareness, and interventions tend to be effective primarily among those ready to engage in saving behaviors.To address these issues, questionnaires were administered to Italian high school students. The study aimed to determine the importance these adolescents placed on reducing meat, water, and fast-fashion consumption and to assess their sensitivity to socio-environmental versus individual-economic arguments. Additionally, the research aimed to explore whether this sensitivity varied depending on specific individual attitudes. The analysis was conducted using an ordered multinomial logit model. The findings of this exploratory analysis reveal that, surprisingly, socio-environmental arguments were found to be more effective than economic-individual arguments in increasing the willingness of adolescents to reduce detrimental consumption habits. Moreover, the study will examine interactions between treatments and principal components, revealing intriguing insights. These findings contribute to understanding the preferences and attitudes of Italian adolescents toward pro-sustainable behaviors and highlight the importance of socio-environmental arguments in promoting such behaviors. The results also emphasize the need to consider individual characteristics when designing interventions to effectively promote pro-environmental behaviors among adolescents.

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 Presented in Session P53. Flash session Climate Change, Individual Attitudes and Behavior