Measures of Children's concerns and attitudes in relation to environmental crises: A systematic review

Children are being constantly exposed to threatening news about ongoing environmental crises leading to the experience of concerns and worries about current and future consequences for their life and our planet. It is important to deepen our understanding of the interplay of factors that shape children's concerns and attitudes in relation to environmental crises to effectively support children in channelling their energy into proactive environmental actions whilst protecting their wellbeing. To progress this field of knowledge, research relies on well-validated measures that address and operationalise these factors. Hence, the current study systematically reviews literature on measures of children's concerns and attitudes in relation to environmental crises. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis, six databases were searched for relevant studies. A total of 41 studies on the development and/or evaluation of 21 measures addressing children's concerns and attitudes in response to environmental crises were identified. Analysis of the content of measures demonstrated that cognitive and behavioural aspects are well covered, whereas there is less focus on emotional aspects in the current literature. The quality of measures was assessed based on their reported psychometric properties and illustrated varying levels of supporting evidence for each measure. The individual studies were assessed for Risk of Bias using the Appraisal tool for Cross-Sectional Studies and studies overall received favourable ratings. Strengths and limitations of the literature and current review are discussed alongside recommendations for future research.