Eco-anxiety among university students: institutional support, sustainable action and psychological resilience

Résumé fourni par la source

Purpose Eco-anxiety (EA) is now a prevalent form of climate-related distress among university students, yet most evidence has been generated in the Global North. Drawing on the self-determination theory (SDT) and conservation of resources (COR) theory, we examine how perceived institutional support relates to EA in a climate-vulnerable Global South setting. We test whether engagement in sustainable lifestyle practices mediates this relationship and whether psychological resilience moderates the link between sustainable practices and EA. Design/methodology/approach We surveyed a total of 539 students enrolled in public and private universities in Bangladesh and tested the model using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings Perceived institutional support is associated with lower EA. Engagement in sustainable lifestyle practices partially mediates this association, identifying a behavioral pathway through which institutional support relates to lower EA. Psychological resilience moderates the link between sustainable practices and EA: the association is stronger among students reporting higher resilience. We find no significant differences across gender or institutional type. Originality/value We integrate institutional support, behavioral engagement and individual psychological resources into a single model and test it in a climate-vulnerable Global South higher-education setting. The behavioral-pathway evidence extends prior EA research that has examined institutional and individual factors in isolation, and shows that the strength of this pathway depends on personal resilience.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.