Investigating the role of social media and news media in pro-environmental behaviors over time: An application of the general learning model among Belgian adolescents

This study examined whether and how climate content on news and social media promotes offline and online pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) in adolescents, directly and indirectly via knowledge, norms, concerns, and personal risk perceptions. Using a two-wave panel study of 657 Belgian adolescents, path analyses revealed that exposure to climate content in both news and social media was positively related to perceived personal risk and climate concerns four months later. Thus, climate content in news and social media appears to contribute to adolescents’ assessment of personal risk and the development of climate concerns over time. Further, news media, but not social media, was positively related to subjective knowledge about climate change four months later, possibly pointing to differences in information processing of climate content from these two sources. No direct relationships emerged between news and social media exposure, norms, and off- and online PEB over time. Only perceived personal risk negatively predicted offline PEB four months later, and mediated the prospective relationship between news and social media exposure and offline PEB. Potentially, adolescents acknowledge the risks of climate change, yet still perceive them as distant to themselves, leading to less PEB. Findings are discussed in light of practical and scholarly implications.