Intergenerational attitude–behavior linkages in household energy saving: Gender inequality perspective

Abstract

Households are pivotal to demand-side conservation, yet how parental gender and gender inequality shape the translation of environmental attitudes into everyday energy saving is not well understood. Using 51,110 parent–adolescent dyads from PISA 2018 across 13 countries and an Actor–Partner Interdependence Model, this study examines how parents’ and adolescents’ attitudes relate to their own and each other’s home energy-saving behaviors. Results indicate that environmental attitudes positively predict own behaviors for both generations. The country-level Gender Inequality Index significantly attenuates this attitude–behavior consistency. This dampening effect constrains both mothers and fathers. Regarding intergenerational transmission, partner effects are weak or negative. However, a significant interaction indicates that adolescent-to-parent associations appear primarily in higher-inequality contexts. These findings suggest that gender inequality is a contextual condition associated with weaker household attitude–behavior consistency. From a policy perspective, the results are consistent with the value of complementing awareness-based approaches with interventions that reduce structural barriers to household conservation.

Bo Hu 胡博

PhD Student

My research interests include environmental psychology and behavior intervention.