Abstract
In India every fifth person is between the age of 10-19 years. This makes it the country with the largest adolescent population the world (UNICEF, 2020). Youth are active agents in protecting the environment, hence what adolescents know and feel about environmental issues are important markers for long term social change. This study assesses the level of environmental concern and emotional disposition towards the environment of Indian adolescents between the age of 14-18 years in urban cities (Grade 9-Grade 12 school students). Data from 714 adolescents was collected and analyzed via SPSS version 21. The results show that Indian adolescents have a very high level of concern towards environmental issues with global warming, cutting of forests and air pollution being the top three concerns. The study also shows that Indian adolescents show very high emotional connect towards the environment with feelings of anger, anxiety, and sadness emerging as the main emotions that they feel towards the environment. Gender has an important role to play in both environmental concern and emotional disposition towards the environment, with females showing higher levels of concern as well as a high emotional response. Adolescents who participate in an environmental activity have higher concern than those who do not participate in any environmental activity. Indian adolescents consider Internet, Newspapers, and Teachers as their top sources of environmental information. The school students also show maximum participation in Reduce, Reuse and Recycle activities and Plantation drives.
Presenters
Gurpreet MehdirattaStudent, Executive Fellow Program in Management (EFPM), Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Economic, Social, and Cultural Context
KEYWORDS
Environmental Concern, Emotional Disposition towards the Environment, Adolescents, India
