Motive Alignment Promotes Adolescents’ Proenvironmental Behavior: A Field Experiment in Two Cultures

Jenna Spitzer, Stathis Grapsas, Astrid M. G. Poorthuis, Fan Li, Yue Song, Sander Thomaes

Psychological Science · 2026 · Volume 37 · Issue 6

Abstract

Realizing a sustainable future requires the active participation of today’s young generations. How can we foster adolescents’ proenvironmental engagement? In a preregistered, cross-national, longitudinal field experiment, we tested a novel approach to promoting adolescent behavior change: motive alignment. We hypothesized that presenting proenvironmental behavior as aligned with adolescents’ developmentally salient motives (in this case, autonomy and peer status) would enhance their engagement. In Study 1 (the Netherlands), a motive-alignment (versus control) intervention implemented in secondary schools increased adolescents’ proenvironmental food choices on the day of the intervention. Although this effect faded after 4 weeks, participants in the intervention condition continued to donate more to an environmental organization at follow-up. In Study 2 (China), we replicated these findings. Motive alignment thus offers a promising approach to strengthen interventions promoting adolescents’ proenvironmental behavior; it presents scalable and affordable opportunities to foster youth behavior change.

Keywords

adolescence, proenvironmental behavior, values alignment, climate communication, environmental education

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