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The Climate‐Change Dilemma: Examining the Association Between Parental Status and Political Party Support 1
Author(s) -
Milfont Taciano L.,
Harré Niki,
Sibley Chris G.,
Duckitt John
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2012.00946.x
Subject(s) - voting , dilemma , politics , social psychology , climate change , psychology , democracy , political science , social dilemma , population , association (psychology) , sample (material) , political economy , sociology , law , demography , ecology , philosophy , epistemology , psychotherapist , biology , chemistry , chromatography
Determining when, and for whom, positive attitudes toward climate‐change actions translate into actual behavior is critically important in promoting pro‐environmental behavior. An important way climate change can be tackled is through changes to social policy at the governmental level, which, in turn, depends on individual voting behavior in democratic nations. The present study examined this issue with regard to political party support in New Zealand, and demonstrated—using a large general population sample of voters—that support for climate‐change actions predict differential support for center‐left and center‐right political parties only for people who have children. Parental status moderated the link between support for climate‐change actions and voting intentions. Practical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.