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Abstract
This article reports on the intergenerational transmission of environmental concern and the explanatory power of communication patterns within the family. Using representative data from the Parent-Child Socialization Study in Belgium (PCSS, 2012), this article focuses on the relative influence of the mother and the father, and gender-specific patterns in the transmission of environmental attitudes. The results clearly confirm the transmission hypothesis: both the mother and the father have a significant influence on the environmental concern of their offspring. No gender-specific transmission mechanisms were found. In families that communicate regularly about the environment, transmission was more effective. Nevertheless, the transmission effects were only moderate, indicating that environmental concern may not be a core attitude within Belgian families.
Notes
The single parent households (N = 111) were excluded from the analysis.
Weighing factors were introduced for education track and gender, but they all remained between .65 and 1.22.
The same analysis was also performed with regression analysis (“communication about the environment” as a control variable instead of intermediary variable). Similar effect sizes were found.