Is personal income associated with attitudes towards climate change risk? A moderated mediation analysis for the UK from 2009 to 2020
Author(s)
Liu, Ting
Shryane, Nick
Elliot, Mark
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This study investigates the effect of personal income on attitudes towards climate change risk, considering the mediator of responsibility attribution (RA) for climate change and the moderator of educational attainment. Using a latent growth curve model applied to data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study dataset from 2009 to 2020, this study indicated that personal income growth heightens the likelihood of expressing concern about climate change while reducing the propensity for holding sceptical or paradoxical attitudes over time. Attributing climate change to personal behaviour mediated the income-attitude relationship. Significant differences in the mediation effect were observed between individuals who had received a university education and those who had not, even after controlling for covariates such as age, sex, political affiliation and employment status. These findings suggest that climate campaign emphasising RA can address attitude disparities across income and education strata, further promoting sustainable climate action and mitigation.
Date Issued
2024-12
Date Acceptance
2024-04-04
Citation
Sustainable Development, 2024, 32 (6), pp.5913-5928
ISSN
0968-0802
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
5913
End Page
5928
Journal / Book Title
Sustainable Development
Volume
32
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Authors. Sustainable Development published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sd.3011
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2024-04-16