Influence of Life Events and Environmental Education on Generational Differences in Environmental Awareness

Abstract

Public opinion surveys have shown that Japanese younger people have lower environmental awareness. Although life events have attracted attention as a factor in such generational differences, it is not clear whether they enhance environmental awareness. On the other hand, environmental education in schools since the 1990s in Japan is expected to increase environmental awareness among young people. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey to examine how life events and the experience of environmental education relate to the environmental awareness in Japanese adulthood. As a result, we found that the experience of environmental education, the sharing of housework and the experience of parenting the first child were the factors that decreased the generational differences.