Moments of change represent a break in people’s existing patterns or routines mainly due to personal, social, or professional circumstances. Such transitions could provide a stronger opportunity for a planned, conscious, and highly conductive habit change and subsequently a more effective, possibly long-term, behaviour change.
The project explores this development, looking at pro-environmental behaviours, more specifically sustainable consumer behaviours, and political and environmental activism, during a distinct period of people’s lives, leaving school and transitioning to university.
Starting university is important as it happens during a stage in people’s lives known as ‘late adolescence’ when people are between the ages of 18 and 25. It is accompanied by a lot of other changes such as getting the right to vote, operating personal finances and moving out of one’s family home.
We are interested to see how transitioning to university might affect pro-environmental behaviours such as energy use, transport behaviours, shopping behaviours, waste management, etc. We are also exploring the role of various psychological constructs such as human values, identity, and emotional regulation on pro-environmental behaviours during a moment of change.