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Environmental concern, self-concept and defence style. A study of the Agenda 21 process in a Swedish municipality

Lindström, Marianne LU and Johnsson, Per LU (2003) In Environmental Education Research 9(1). p.51-66
Abstract
The experience of working with Agenda 21 was investigated among child care personnel in a small Swedish municipality. The main aim was to study the correlation between environmental concern and personality. It was hypothesised that people caring about the environment would have a positive self-concept and use an adaptive defence style. The result showed that personal concern ( r =0.42, p =0.000), perceived control ( r =0.29, p =0.003) and intention to act ( r =0.31, p =0.001) were all correlated to self-reported ecological behaviour. Though the child care personnel believed that they had little influence on the environmental issues, their own contributions towards improving the environment were experienced as meaningful. They had a... (More)
The experience of working with Agenda 21 was investigated among child care personnel in a small Swedish municipality. The main aim was to study the correlation between environmental concern and personality. It was hypothesised that people caring about the environment would have a positive self-concept and use an adaptive defence style. The result showed that personal concern ( r =0.42, p =0.000), perceived control ( r =0.29, p =0.003) and intention to act ( r =0.31, p =0.001) were all correlated to self-reported ecological behaviour. Though the child care personnel believed that they had little influence on the environmental issues, their own contributions towards improving the environment were experienced as meaningful. They had a positive self-concept and they cared about the environment, even if no correlation ( r =0.08) could be found between environmental concern and self-concept. On the other hand, a positive correlation existed between perceived control and the use of an adaptive defence style ( r =0.26, p =0.019). It was concluded that feedback from politicians and officials by encouraging the child care personnel's feelings of empowerment and provid ing them with possibilities for action would most likely increase their feelings of influence and move the Agenda 21 process ahead (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Environmental Education Research
volume
9
issue
1
pages
51 - 66
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:21644449993
ISSN
1469-5871
DOI
10.1080/13504620303470
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Faculty of Engineering, LTH at Lund University (000006000), Department of Psychology (012010000), Environmental Psychology (011036009)
id
da2214b3-8d69-4734-a834-2602f85e7b6b (old id 714672)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 08:55:55
date last changed
2022-01-29 07:50:25
@article{da2214b3-8d69-4734-a834-2602f85e7b6b,
  abstract     = {{The experience of working with Agenda 21 was investigated among child care personnel in a small Swedish municipality. The main aim was to study the correlation between environmental concern and personality. It was hypothesised that people caring about the environment would have a positive self-concept and use an adaptive defence style. The result showed that personal concern ( r =0.42, p =0.000), perceived control ( r =0.29, p =0.003) and intention to act ( r =0.31, p =0.001) were all correlated to self-reported ecological behaviour. Though the child care personnel believed that they had little influence on the environmental issues, their own contributions towards improving the environment were experienced as meaningful. They had a positive self-concept and they cared about the environment, even if no correlation ( r =0.08) could be found between environmental concern and self-concept. On the other hand, a positive correlation existed between perceived control and the use of an adaptive defence style ( r =0.26, p =0.019). It was concluded that feedback from politicians and officials by encouraging the child care personnel's feelings of empowerment and provid ing them with possibilities for action would most likely increase their feelings of influence and move the Agenda 21 process ahead}},
  author       = {{Lindström, Marianne and Johnsson, Per}},
  issn         = {{1469-5871}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{51--66}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Environmental Education Research}},
  title        = {{Environmental concern, self-concept and defence style. A study of the Agenda 21 process in a Swedish municipality}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504620303470}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/13504620303470}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2003}},
}