Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Risk perception and response toward climate change for higher education students in Taiwan

  • Recent Advances and Novel Concepts in Environmental Technologies
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The effects of climate change have already begun to threaten biological diversity and human societies, and these effects will continue to grow over time. To face the challenges related to mitigation and adaptation will require an educated and motivated citizenry. From the perspective of green education, providing knowledge related to climate change and promoting pro-environmental behaviors is imperative. In this study, we assess current levels of knowledge, risk perception and types of pro-environmental behaviors. We administered a questionnaire to 1118 university students in Taiwan evaluating climate change knowledge (15 items), risk perception (23 items), and attitudes toward behavioral change (33 items). Factor analyses were conducted to identify the underlying latent variables for risk perception and obstacles to behavioral change, and ANOVA tests were performed to identify significant associations between three different levels of climate change knowledge and responses to the risk perception and obstacles-to-change items. We found that higher levels of knowledge significantly predicted greater perceptions of risk related to biodiversity threats and increased public costs. In terms of behavior, students with lower levels of knowledge were significantly more likely to find uncertainties related to climate change to be a greater obstacle to engaging in pro-environmental behaviors. Higher levels of knowledge clearly allow individuals to better assess the threats posed by climate change and reduces the perceived level of uncertainty related to climate change and the impact of pro-environmental behaviors. Our results suggest that Taiwan’s efforts to implement climate change related information in the public schools and in the university system have been effective and that such efforts should be broadened to reach the public as a whole.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abdul-Wahab SA, Abdulraheem MY, Hutchinson M (2003) The need for inclusion of environmental education in undergraduate engineering curricula. Int J Sustain High Educ 4:126–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Ajzen I (1985) From intentions to actions: a theory of planned behavior. In Action control (pp. 11-39). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Anderson K, Bows A (2011) Beyond ‘dangerous’ climate change: emission scenarios for a new world. Philos Trans R Soc A 369:20–44

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barnett J, Adger WN (2007) Climate change, human security and violent conflict. Polit Geogr 26:639–655

    Google Scholar 

  • Barr S (2003) Strategies for sustainability: citizens and responsible environmental behaviour. Area 35:227–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Bazerman M (2006) Climate change as a predictable surprise. Climate Change 77:179–193

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, Ulrich (1992) Risk society: towards a new modernity London: sage

  • Bekessy S, Burgman M, Wright T, Filho W, Smith M (2003) Universities and sustainability. In Tela series, no. 11. Australia: ACF

  • Berry HL, Bowen K, Kjellstrom T (2010) Climate change and mental health: a causal pathways framework. Int J Publ Health 55:123–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Birkmann J, von Teichman K (2010) Integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation: key challenges—scales, knowledge, and norms. Sustain Sc 5:171–184

    Google Scholar 

  • DeVellis RF (2012) Scale development: theory and applications. 3rd Sage publications

  • Di Giusto B, Lavallee JP, Yu TY (2018) Towards an East Asian model of climate change awareness: a questionnaire study among university students in Taiwan. PLoS One 13:e0206298. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206298

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dijkstra EM, Goedhart MJ (2012) Development and validation of the ACSI: measuring students’ science attitudes, pro-environmental behaviour, climate change attitudes and knowledge. Environ Educ Res 18(6):733–749

    Google Scholar 

  • Dupigny-Giroux LAL (2008) Introduction – climate science literacy: a state of the knowledge review. Phys Geogr 29:483–486

    Google Scholar 

  • Englander T, Farago K, Slovic P, Fischhoff B (1986) A comparative analysis of risk perception in Hungary and United States. Soc Behav 1:55–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang SC, Yu TK, Yu TY, Chang IC (2016) Psychological distance and pro-environmental behavior: an application of behavior model to emerging contaminants in higher education. J Balt Sci Educ 15:759–775

    Google Scholar 

  • Gautier C, Deitsch K, Rebich S (2006) Misconceptions about the greenhouse effect. J Geosci Educ 54:386–395

    Google Scholar 

  • Goszczynka M, Tadeusz T (1991) Risk perceptions in Poland: a comparison with three other countries. J Behav Decis Mak 4:179–193

    Google Scholar 

  • Guagnano GA, Stern PC, Dietz T (1995) Influences on attitude-behavior relationships: a natural experiment with curbside recycling. Environ Behav 27:699–718

    Google Scholar 

  • Hidalgo MC, Pisano I (2010) Determinants of risk perception and willingness to tackle climate change. A pilot study. Psyecology 1:105–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Hines JM, Hungerford HR, Tomera AN (1987) Analysis and synthesis of research on responsible pro-environmental behavior: a meta-analysis. J Environ Educa 18:1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Hornsey MJ, Harris EA, Bain PG, Fielding KS (2016) Meta-analyses of the determinants and outcomes of belief in climate change. Nat Clim Chang 6:622

    Google Scholar 

  • Hungerford HR, Volk TL (1990) Changing learner behavior through environmental education. J Environ Educ 21:8–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Hungerford HR, Peyton RB, Tomera, AN, Litherland, RA, Ramsey JM, Volk TL (1985) Investigating and evaluating environmental issues and actions skill development modules

  • Karl TR, Melillo JM, Peterson TC, Hassol SJ (2009) Global climate change impacts in the United States. Cambridge University Press

  • Leiserowitz A (2006) Climate change risk perception policy references: the role of affect, magery and values. Clim Chang 77:45–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Leiserowitz A, Maibach E, Roser-Renouf C, Smith N (2010) Climate change in the American mind: Americans’ global warming beliefs and attitudes in January 2010. Yale and George Mason University. Yale Project on Climate Change

  • Leiserowitz A, Smith N., Marlon JR (2011). American teens’ knowledge of climate change. Yale University. New Haven, CT: Yale project on climate change communication, 5

  • Liobikienė G, Juknys R (2016) The role of values, environmental risk perception, awareness of consequences, and willingness to assume responsibility for environmentally-friendly behaviour: the Lithuanian case. J Clean Prod 112:3413–3422

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu SY, Yeh SC, Liang SW, Fang WT, Tsai HM (2015) A national investigation of teachers’ environmental literacy as a reference for promoting environmental education in Taiwan. J Environ Educ 46:114–132

    Google Scholar 

  • McMichael AJ, Woodruff RE, Hales S (2006) Climate change and human health: present and future risks. Lancet 367:859–869

    Google Scholar 

  • Melillo JM, Richmond TC, Yohe GW (2014). Climate change impacts in the United States: the third national climate assessment US Global Change Research Program, 841

  • Milfont TL (2009) The effects of social desirability on self-reported environmental attitudes and ecological behaviour. Environmentalist 29:263–269

    Google Scholar 

  • Milfont TL (2012) The interplay between knowledge, perceived efficacy, and concern about global warming and climate change: a one-year longitudinal study. Risk Anal 32:1003–1020

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills B, Schleich J (2012) Residential energy-efficient technology adoption, energy conservation, knowledge, and attitudes: an analysis of European countries. Energ Policy 49:616–628

    Google Scholar 

  • Moser SC, Dilling L (2011) Communicating climate change: closing the science-action gap. The Oxford handbook of climate change and society:161–174

  • Myers SS, Patz JA (2009) Emerging threats to human health from global environmental change. Annu Rev Environ Resour 34:223–252

    Google Scholar 

  • Pothitou M, Hanna RF, Chalvatzis KJ (2016) Environmental knowledge, pro-environmental behaviour and energy savings in households: an empirical study. Appl Energ 184:1217–1229

    Google Scholar 

  • Rees JH, Klug S, Bamberg S (2015) Guilty conscience: motivating pro-environmental behavior by inducing negative moral emotions. Clim Chang 130:439–452

    Google Scholar 

  • Shi J, Visschers VH, Siegrist M (2015) Public perception of climate change: the importance of knowledge and cultural worldviews. Risk Anal 35:2183–2201

    Google Scholar 

  • Shi J, Visschers VH, Siegrist M, Arvai J (2016) Knowledge as a driver of public perceptions about climate change reassessed. Nat Clim Chang 6:759

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinatra GM, Kardash CM, Taasoobshirazi G, Lombardi D (2012) Promoting attitude change and expressed willingness to take action toward climate change in college students. Instr Sci 40:1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Sjöberg L (2000) Factors in risk perception. Risk Anal 20:1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Slovic P (1987) Perception of risk. Science 236:280–285

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Slovic P (2000) Perception of risk London: Earthscan

  • Slovic P, Elke W (2002) Perception of risk posed by extreme events presented at risk management strategies in an uncertain world. Palisades, NY. 4/12-13/2002

  • Slovic P, Peters E (2006) Risk perception and affect. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 15:322–325

    Google Scholar 

  • Slovic P, Monahan J, MacGregor DG (2000) Violence risk assessment and risk communication: The effects of using actual cases, providing instruction, and employing probability versus frequency formats. Law Hum Behav 24:271–296

  • Stern PC (2000) New environmental theories: toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavior. J Soc Issues 56:407–424

    Google Scholar 

  • Tan CS, Ooi HY, Goh YN (2017) A moral extension of the theory of planned behavior to predict consumers’ purchase intention for energy-efficient household appliances in Malaysia. Energ Policy 107:459–471

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsai WT (2012) An investigation of Taiwan’s education regulations and policies for pursuing environmental sustainability. Int J Educ Dev 32:359–365

    Google Scholar 

  • Wachholz S, Artz N, Chene D (2014) Warming to the idea: university students’ knowledge and attitudes about climate change. Int J Sustain High Educ 15(2):128–141

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Shi H, Sun M, Huisingh D, Hansson L, Wang R (2013) Moving towards an ecologically sound society? Starting from green universities and environmental higher education. J Clean Prod 61:1–5

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang ZJ, Seo M, Rickard LN, Harrison TM (2015) Information sufficiency and attribution of responsibility: predicting support for climate change policy and pro-environmental behavior. Journal of Risk Research 18(6):727–746

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhai C, Lafferty J (2006) A risk minimization framework for information retrieval. Inform Process Manag 42:31–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Zsóka Á, Szerényi ZM, Széchy A, Kocsis T (2013) Greening due to environmental education? Environmental knowledge, attitudes, consumer behavior and everyday pro-environmental activities of Hungarian high school and university students. J Clean Prod 48:126–138

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

The authors express their gratitude to the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 104-2511-S-130-002-MY2) for funding this project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, National Quemoy University, Kinmen, 892, Taiwan

    Tai-Kuei Yu

  2. International Business and Trade Program, Ming Chuan University International College, Taipei, Taiwan

    Joseph P. Lavallee

  3. Journalism and Mass Communication Program, Ming Chuan University International College, Taipei, Taiwan

    Bruno Di Giusto

  4. Department of Environmental Engineering, National Ilan University, Ilan, 26047, Taiwan

    I-Cheng Chang

  5. Department of Risk Management and Insurance, Ming Chuan University, Taipei, 11103, Taiwan

    Tai-Yi Yu

Authors
  1. Tai-Kuei Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joseph P. Lavallee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bruno Di Giusto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. I-Cheng Chang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Tai-Yi Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tai-Yi Yu.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Philipp Gariguess

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yu, TK., Lavallee, J.P., Di Giusto, B. et al. Risk perception and response toward climate change for higher education students in Taiwan. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 24749–24759 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07450-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07450-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation