Does Being an Environmental Citizen Lead to Greater Well-Being? The Self-Determination Theory Approach

Abstract

In this study, we examine a potential model based on the Self-Determination Theory, which explains how environmental citizenship and connectedness to nature could be associated with subjective well-being through the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. A convenience sample of 172 adolescents from three Lithuanian schools with a mean age of 15.4 years was gathered (40.1% male, 51.7% female, and 8.1% who preferred not to answer). The tested model showed reasonable fit indices: CFI = 0.941, TLI = 0.928, NFI = 0.913, RMSEA = 0.104 [0.090–0.119], SRMR = 0.073 and χ2 (98) = 281.532, p < .01, and could explain approximately 41% of the variance of subjective well-being. The results show that pro-environmental actions taken by environmental citizens in the private sphere can have a positive impact on mental health as pro-environmental behavior satisfies basic psychological needs.