Revisiting young students‘ perceptions of global climate change in relation to psychological variables

Date

2023-12

Author

Aslan, Şeyma İrem

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The present study aims to identify the profiles of middle school students ‘perceptions toward Global Climate Change from psychological perspectives, such as the reality of climate change, the human and natural process causes of climate change, positive and negative consequences of climate change, consequences of spatial distance and proximity, and temporal distance. Data were collected from 1000 middle school students enrolled in grades 5-8, through the Turkish version of the Climate Change Perception Scale, and the Bipolar Format of the Climate Change Perception Scale originally developed by Van Valkengoed, Steg, & Perlaviciute (2021), and later, subjected to explanatory factor analyses were conducted. Explanatory factor analyses yielded a similar factor structure to the original Scale. In particular, the eight factors extracted in the Climate Change Perception Scale, and Bipolar scale have produced 3 factors. Cronbach alpha coefficient for each dimension ranged from .75 to .91. Data, then, were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, means, standard deviation, and frequency analyses. The results showed that the majority of the students thought that climate change is happening, that climate change has more negative consequences compared to positive consequences, and that human actions cause climate change more than natural processes. However, students remained, undecided about the time and location of the consequences of climate change. This study explained the perceptions of middle school students concerning climate change changes vary with respect to its reality, causes, consequences, and consequences of distance and time.

Subject Keywords

Global Climate Change, Perceptions of Climate Change, Spatial Proximity, Spatial Distance, Temporal Distance

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/107743

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis