Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42252941›Full record

ArticleJournal of adolescence2026

What's in It for Them? A Developmental Science Perspective on Adolescent Climate Activism.

Judith van de Wetering, Katharine Lee

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of adolescence, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Climate change and youth development: A view of an emerging field.International journal of behavioral development · 2026
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Judith van de WeteringDepartment of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2373-9433
Katharine LeeDepartment of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6199-8482

Funding

Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme 864137
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionIn recent years, millions of adolescents have joined school strikes to demand climate action from governments and industries, standing in solidarity with young people from future generations and from vulnerable geographical regions (i.e., the Global South). The goal of the present study is to explore adolescents' climate activism from a developmental science perspective, analyzing how climate activism may be rooted in adolescents' developing identity and developmentally salient motives.

methodsEleven 14-18-year-old Dutch adolescent climate activists (six female, two male, one non-binary, two not disclosed) participated in an online semi-structured interview between September 2022 and 2023. Data were analyzed in NVivo through theoretical reflexive thematic analysis, exploring patterns of meaning across the dataset while embracing researchers' active, subjective, and reflective role in data analysis. RESULTS AND

conclusionsWe constructed three themes: "Activism is motivated by the desire to make contributions to a just world;" "Activism is an autonomous choice that helps explore and express who I am;" and "Activism makes me feel connected to (some but not all) others." Taken together, the present analysis suggests that adolescents' climate activism-and pro-environmental engagement more generally-is driven by and satisfies their developmentally salient motives to contribute to a socially just world, to make autonomous choices, to explore and express their identity, and to feel connected to others. As such, our work sheds light on how we may promote and support adolescents' engagement in acts of solidarity to contribute to today's societal challenges, and suggests avenues for further research.

Indexed as

Adolescent DevelopmentClimate ChangePolitical ActivismAdolescentFemaleHumansMaleMotivationNetherlandsSocial Identificationautonomyclimate activismconnectednessidentitymotivationsocial justice

Identifiers

PMID42252941
PMCPMC13440713

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.