Contrasting Trajectories in Adolescent Pro-Environmentalism: Qualitative Differences Between “Engagers” Versus “Disengagers”

The present study is a qualitative expansion of pre-existing quantitative research. Two groups of teenagers from a previous longitudinal study were specifically targeted, namely those who demonstrated extraordinary increases in their pro-environmental engagement from 13 to 17 years (called “Engagers”) and those who showed the opposite trajectory, that is, a marked decrease in pro-environmental behavior, reminiscent of an adolescent dip (called “Disengagers”). Nineteen participants (equally distributed across the engagers and disengagers categories) took part in semi-structured interviews that explored participants’ relationships with nature over their adolescent years, communication about environmental issues in the context of family, peers and school, as well as media influences. All interviewees described memorable nature experiences in childhood and adolescence as important to them, and all were growing up in family households where parents had established basic routines of sustainability behavior. All participants had access to a wealth of media information about environmental sustainability (and lack thereof). However, they largely differed in what they made out of it. For the group of disengagers, environmental concerns moved more and more into the background as other themes, goals, and projects came to the forefront over the adolescent period (e.g., graduation, establishing an educational and occupational career, establishing lasting peer relationships). In contrast, engagers actively expanded their environmental engagement over time. As a consequence, this engagement became increasingly independent from family, peer and school contexts. Ultimately, it was the process of engagement and disengagement itself that accounted for the different trajectories that were targeted in the present study. The study points out that it is not possible to understand the developmental context for pro-environmentalism as a factor that operates independently from the individual person. Teenagers create the contexts that influences their pro-environmental engagement as much as they are influenced by them.