Influencing factors of climate action among general high school students: Testing the extended parallel process model and the role of learning experiences

This study examined the influencing factors of climate action among Korean general high school students by exploring psychological response profiles and learning experiences. Adolescents will experience the long-term impacts of climate change, and their attitudes formed during this stage provide a foundation for subsequent climate action. To account for developmental characteristics and differences in educational contexts among adolescents, this study targeted general high school students. Drawing on the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM), 360 students from general high schools in South Korea were classified into three distinct groups apathy, fear control, and danger control using cluster analysis based on perceived risk and self-efficacy levels. Students in the danger control group reported significantly higher levels of perceived climate action than those in the fear control and apathy groups, whereas no significant difference was observed between the latter two groups. Further analyses indicated that membership in the danger control group and out-of-school learning experiences were the only significant predictors of perceived climate action. These findings demonstrate that the EPPM can function as a key framework for explaining climate action. Moreover, out-of-school learning experiences positively predicted climate action even after controlling for psychological responses, highlighting the role of informal and non-formal learning in climate action. This study extends existing discussions of climate action by highlighting the importance of learning experiences beyond the classroom and provides empirical evidence that such experiences meaningfully enhance students’ climate action.