Analysis of pro-environmental behaviors from the perspective of knowledge, risk perception and awareness of climate change.

Because climate change occurs at a global level, it is essential that people, organizations and institutions incorporate measures to mitigate its effects on the environment. Therefore, it is essential to provide theoretical, scientific, and empirical insight into particular aspects such as knowledge, risk perception, and awareness of climate change that can predict behavior with respect to pro-environmental actions. The objectives of this research are: 1) to analyze the behavior of latent variables corresponding to knowledge, perception of risk due to climate change, awareness of climate change and pro-environmental behaviors, through confirmatory factor analysis in the structural equation model of four instruments. and 2) to determine the factors that affect the practice of pro-environmental behaviors, through an analysis of structural equations. The methodology used was quantitative; descriptive study; with non-probability sampling; with the participation of 296 students from a private university in Guadalajara and the Metropolitan Area, located in the State of Jalisco, Mexico. Results: Awareness about climate change is the only construct that directly affects pro-environmental behaviors; however, knowledge of climate change did represent a positive and strong effect to carry out behaviors in favor of the environment. It is confirmed that, having this knowledge, indirectly affects pro-environmental behaviors, through awareness of it. In addition, knowledge of climate change has a positive and significant effect on both perception and awareness of climate change.