The Path to Sustainability: Psychological and Environmental Variables of Adolescents’ Transportation Choices

Eduarda Lehmann Bannach (), Samira Bourgeois-Bougrine, Alessandra Bianchi and Patricia Delhomme
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Eduarda Lehmann Bannach: Université Paris Cité, Univ Gustave Eiffel, LaPEA, 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, France
Samira Bourgeois-Bougrine: Université Paris Cité, Univ Gustave Eiffel, LaPEA, 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, France
Alessandra Bianchi: Department of Psychology, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba 80060-000, Brazil
Patricia Delhomme: Univ Gustave Eiffel, Université Paris Cité, LaPEA, 78000 Versailles, France

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 22, 1-15

Abstract: Since adolescents are the adults of tomorrow, they are key players in increasing climate change awareness and the adoption of environmentally friendly transportation. Therefore, it is essential to understand the current and future transportation choices of adolescents in order to provide sustainability guidance to schools and communities. To this aim, a questionnaire based on the Theory of Planned Behavior was administered at school to 382 Brazilian students with an average age of 16.36 years. Regarding the results on current transportation choices, students attending public schools commute more often without adult supervision than those attending private schools and tend to travel in a more environmentally friendly manner. In terms of future transportation choices, attitudes, subjective norms, and active participation in environmental groups have a significant impact on adolescents’ intentions to choose a more sustainable mode of transport to get to work in 15 years’ time. Taking into account the socio-economic level, the results are discussed in terms of the need for awareness raising, such as education for sustainable development, and possible interventions to encourage more environmentally friendly transport choices.

Keywords: infrastructure; transport choice; climate change; ecological behavior; unsustainable patterns (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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