Empirical research of sustainable behavior of high school students in the context of subject-environment interactions

Due to the climate change and the rising levels of stress in the society, a comprehensive study of the sustainable behavior of high school students is of particular relevance, not only in relation to the environment, but also to their interaction with the others. The purpose of the research is to study the sustainable behavior of high school students in relation to the environment and to other people. The hypothesis is twofold: 1) a higher level of environmental motivation of high school students will correspond to a higher level of their pro-sustainable behavior in everyday life; 2) a higher level of high school students’ ability of self-governance in interaction will correspond to a higher level of their prosustainable behavior in everyday life. The sample of the research comprises 10th and 11th high school graders (N = 145; male = 38%, female = 62%, average age 16.8 years, SD = 0.62 years) from two Russian cities: Vladimir (n = 70) and Samara (n = 75). The following methods were used: “Selfreport questionnaire of pro-sustainable behavior in everyday life” (I. V. Kryazh, K. A. Andronnikova) was used to assess the level of sustainable behavior of high school students in everyday life; the subtest “Environmental motivation” from the “Questionnaire of ecological consciousness” (M. O. Mdivani) was utilized to diagnose the environmental motivation; the methodology “Study of the ability of self-governance in interaction” (N. P. Fetiskin, V. V. Kozlov, G. M. Manuilov) was used to assess high school students’ ability of self-governance in interaction. In general, a low level of sustainable behavior was shown by 16% of the high school students, 63% of them demonstrated an average level, a high level was shown by 21% of the high school students. At the same time, 8% of the high school students showed a low level of pro-sustainable behavior, and 48% of them showed a high level of pro-sustainable behavior. While 41% of the high school students showed a low level of environmental motivation, and only 6% of them showed a high level. This discrepancy in the results of pro-sustainable behavior and environmental motivation is explained by social-desirability bias when evaluating pro-sustainable behavior. No significant differences were found between the data of high school students living in Vladimir and Samara. Gender differences were found only for the data on pro-sustainable behavior in everyday life. A statistically significant correlation between pro-sustainable behavior and environmental motivation was established. No such connection was found between pro-sustainable behavior and self-governance in interaction. This may indicate that the students do not have enough skills and motivation to build subject-collaborative and subject-engaging interactions in relation to the environment. The results indicate the need for a broader understanding of the sustainable behavior of high school students, namely, that the behavior should be eco-friendly not only in relation to the surrounding nature, but to the surrounding people.