On the occasion of today's Global Climate Strikes #FridaysForFuture demonstrations this serves as a slight damper.
Eco-Moms and Climate Change: The Moderating Effects of Fertility in Explaining Gender Differences in Concern
Women typically report greater concern for the environment, including climate change, than men. The eco-mom theory-the belief that women have greater environmental concern than men because mothers primarily care about the health and safety of their children, while fathers primarily care about the economic support of their household-is often proffered as an explanation for this difference.
We look at fertility in relation to concern for climate change using the 2010 General Social Survey. We find no differences in concern for climate change between women who have children and those who do not. Modeling fertility, we find that having more children is associated with less concern for climate change for women but not men. .. ,
Our findings, that women report greater concern for global climate change than men, echo scores of previous studies of environmental concern. However, when looking at a popular explanation for this difference-the eco-mom theory we found no support for the notion that motherhood, in and of itself, explains women's higher levels of concern, even when using a measure of parenthood that is more encompassing than previous studies. Yet, when examining fertility, we find that the number of children a parent has is associated with decreased concern for global climate change for women (but not for men)...
Other researchers have shown that fundamentalist Christians and Republicans tend to have lower average environmental concern. However, we control for Republican Party affiliation, fundamentalist Christian religious values, and frequency of religious attendance in our models. Even with our broader definition, we find no evidence to support the idea that women are motivated to care about global climate change because they have children, as the eco-mom theory asserts.
Men's concern for climate change does not vary, regardless of the number of children they have. Thus, to the extent that men are concerned about global climate change, that concern does not appear to be motivated by their role as fathers. Women do demonstrate a relationship between concern for global climate change and number of children, and that relationship is negative. Although we can reasonably assume that those concerned about climate change may limit their fertility, this relationship should not produce gender differences. A more reasonable explanation for our finding is that having more children represents greater salience of traditional gender roles for women. In other words, having children (and more of them) potentially changes gender roles for women more than for men, and these roles are reflected in women’s declining concern for climate change.
Eco-Moms and Climate Change: The Moderating Effects of Fertility in Explaining Gender Differences in Concern
Women typically report greater concern for the environment, including climate change, than men. The eco-mom theory-the belief that women have greater environmental concern than men because mothers primarily care about the health and safety of their children, while fathers primarily care about the economic support of their household-is often proffered as an explanation for this difference.
We look at fertility in relation to concern for climate change using the 2010 General Social Survey. We find no differences in concern for climate change between women who have children and those who do not. Modeling fertility, we find that having more children is associated with less concern for climate change for women but not men. .. ,
Our findings, that women report greater concern for global climate change than men, echo scores of previous studies of environmental concern. However, when looking at a popular explanation for this difference-the eco-mom theory we found no support for the notion that motherhood, in and of itself, explains women's higher levels of concern, even when using a measure of parenthood that is more encompassing than previous studies. Yet, when examining fertility, we find that the number of children a parent has is associated with decreased concern for global climate change for women (but not for men)...
Other researchers have shown that fundamentalist Christians and Republicans tend to have lower average environmental concern. However, we control for Republican Party affiliation, fundamentalist Christian religious values, and frequency of religious attendance in our models. Even with our broader definition, we find no evidence to support the idea that women are motivated to care about global climate change because they have children, as the eco-mom theory asserts.
Men's concern for climate change does not vary, regardless of the number of children they have. Thus, to the extent that men are concerned about global climate change, that concern does not appear to be motivated by their role as fathers. Women do demonstrate a relationship between concern for global climate change and number of children, and that relationship is negative. Although we can reasonably assume that those concerned about climate change may limit their fertility, this relationship should not produce gender differences. A more reasonable explanation for our finding is that having more children represents greater salience of traditional gender roles for women. In other words, having children (and more of them) potentially changes gender roles for women more than for men, and these roles are reflected in women’s declining concern for climate change.
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