Environmental Change Experience Outperforms Eco-anxiety in Predicting Behavioral Engagement Among Emerging Adults

Abstract

This study investigates the relative influence of eco-anxiety (EA) and environmental change experience (ECE) on environmental change behavioral engagement (ECBE) among emerging adults. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior, Protection Motivation Theory, and resilience-informed models of adaptation, the study conceptualizes EA as an activating emotion that can motivate or inhibit engagement depending on regulatory and contextual supports and ECE as a cognitive-experiential construct encompassing direct and vicarious exposure to environmental disruption. A sample of 450 undergraduate students from three southern US universities completed a survey measuring EA, ECE, and ECBE. Multiple regression analyses tested the relative predictive power of EA and ECE. Results indicated that ECE was a significantly stronger predictor of ECBE than EA, suggesting that firsthand and contextual experiences with environmental change more effectively mobilize engagement than emotional distress alone. Geographic patterns were also observed, with students attending institutions in disaster-prone regions reporting higher levels of ECE and stronger behavioral engagement. These findings advance theoretical understanding by positioning EA within a broader framework of resilience and behavioral regulation, emphasizing the interactive role of emotional activation and experiential learning in fostering adaptive engagement. The results underscore the need for educational and communication strategies that integrate lived experience, place-based reflection, and collective efficacy to translate emotional concern into purposeful action. The study contributes to growing interdisciplinary evidence that environmental resilience depends not only on awareness and affective concern but also on opportunities for experiential learning, agency, and justice-oriented engagement among youth and other vulnerable populations.

Received: 24 November 2025 | Revised: 13 March 2026 | Accepted: 30 April 2026

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Data Availability Statement

Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Author Contribution Statement

Elisabeth R. Ponce-Garcia: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Charleen McNeil: Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Robert V. Rohli: Software, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. M. E. Betsy Garrison: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.