Is There Intra-Family Congruence on Environmental Behaviours and Attitudes? An Analysis of a Household Survey in Belgium

Adolescents are our future policy makers and, thus, important players within the debate on sustainability topics (e.g., climate change). Several attempts in behavioural and environmental research have been made to investigate which factors are crucial to act pro-environmental. Research shows that young people hold more positive attitudes towards environmental issues, but less pro-environmental behaviour compared to older people (Grønhøj & Thøgersen, 2009; Leppänen et al., 2012; Johnson et al., 2004). Previous research suggests that parents’ role as primary socialisation agents is related to the synchronisation of their children’s values, concerns and attitudes within a sustainable context (Grønhøj & Thøgersen, 2009; Casalo & Escario, 2016; Meeusen, 2014; Leppänen et al., 2012). However, there is a relatively small body of literature that is concerned with how social agents influence youth’s pro-environmental actions. We investigate to what extent parents to date can be seen as important socialization agents in shaping adolescents’ pro-environmental behaviours. Are children’s environmental behaviours similar to their parents’ behaviours? We will analyse this by using data from the Belgian VALIES study 2019-2020, a two-wave panel study among 2164 Flemish adolescents (aged 10-14) and one of their parents. After examining parent-child congruence for a variety of pro-environmental actions, the role of age, sex, parent and child characteristics will be discussed. We will also investigate if there is a difference in congruence between attitudes and behaviours. Our study contributes to the gap in research on intergenerational transmission and congruence of pro-environmental behaviour and the need to take action and find solutions regarding sustainability issues.