Protecting and restoring freshwater biodiversity across urban areas in Aotearoa New Zealand: Citizens' reporting of pollution in stormwater drains and waterways.

Urbanization poses numerous challenges to freshwater biodiversity. This paper describes two studies with the joint aim of demonstrating the benefits of applying a systematic behaviour change framework and providing the foundational knowledge to inform future behavior change work to protect and restore urban freshwater biodiversity. In Study 1 we used a mixed-methods research design, involving 14 key informant interviews followed by an online survey targeting 17 freshwater biodiversity experts and another targeting a representative sample of 550 urban residents, to identify and prioritize the most promising resident behaviors to target to reduce stormwater pollution and improve natural waterway habitats in urban areas. Study 2 focused on the top-ranked short-term behavior identified in Study 1, citizen reporting of pollution in stormwater drains and waterways. We surveyed a representative sample of 1901 urban residents across Aoteraoa New Zealand to identify four main determinants influencing this behavior: awareness and uncertainty about reporting, lack of opportunity to report, social motivation and personal motivation to report, and five potential target audiences: 'Supportive', 'Unaware but receptive', 'Motivated but lack support', 'Reluctant', and 'Not my problem'. We make recommendations for the most appropriate intervention designs to target each of these audience segments to promote the reporting of stormwater pollution in urban areas. This knowledge will allow for a more coordinated and effective approach for addressing the 'human element' that lies at the heart of many urban freshwater management problems.

Feelings About Fracking: Using the Affect Heuristic to Understand Opposition to Coal Seam Gas Production.

The rapid expansion of coal seam gas (CSG) extraction across Australia has polarized public opinion about the risks, benefits, and the future of the industry. We conducted a randomized controlled experiment to assess the impact of CSG messaging on opposition to the CSG industry. Residents of a major Australian city (N = 549), aged between 21 and 87 years, were randomly assigned to view one of three brief video messages (pro-CSG, anti-CSG, or a neutral control) sourced from the Internet. They then completed measures assessing CSG affective associations, perceived risks and benefits of CSG, and degree of opposition to the CSG industry. A subsample of 317 participants also completed the measures of affect, risks, benefits, and opposition two weeks following the initial message presentation. Message type significantly predicted message effects in a pattern consistent with the affect heuristic model, although overall, the message effects were modest in magnitude. Respondents who viewed the anti-CSG video (relative to the control) reported more negative affective responses to CSG, perceived higher risks, fewer benefits, and greater opposition to the CSG industry. Those who viewed the pro-CSG video (relative to the control) reported stronger positive affective responses to CSG, perceived more CSG benefits and fewer risks, and expressed less opposition to the industry. The effects persisted over a two-week interval for the anti-CSG message, but not for the pro-CSG message. Our findings suggest that people's risk perceptions and views about the acceptability of CSG are malleable by messaging that targets affective pathways.

Using Audience Segmentation to Understand Nonparticipation in Invasive Mammal Management in Australia.

Invasive mammals threaten agriculture, biodiversity, and community health. Yet many landholders fail to engage in control activities recommended by experts. We surveyed a representative sample of 731 Western Australian rural landholders. The survey assessed landholders' participation in a range of activities to control invasive mammals, as well as their capabilities, opportunities, and motivation for engaging in such activities. We found that over half of our respondents had not participated in any individual or group activities to control invasive mammals during the previous 12 months. Using latent profile analysis, we identified six homogeneous subgroups of nonparticipating landholders, each with their distinct psycho-graphic profiles: Unaware, Unskilled, and Unmotivated, Aware but Unskilled and Doubtful, Unskilled and Time Poor, Disinterested, Skilled but Dismissive, and Capable but Unmotivated. Our results indicate that engagement specialists should not treat nonparticipating landholders as a single homogeneous group. Nonparticipators differ considerably in terms of their capabilities, opportunities, and motivations, and require targeted engagement strategies informed by these differences.

The Future is Now: Reducing Psychological Distance to Increase Public Engagement with Climate Change.

Many people perceive climate change as psychologically distant-a set of uncertain events that might occur far in the future, impacting distant places and affecting people dissimilar to themselves. In this study, we employed construal level theory to investigate whether a climate change communication intervention could increase public engagement by reducing the psychological distance of climate change. Australian residents (N = 333) were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: one framed to increase psychological distance to climate change (distal frame), and the other framed to reduce psychological distance (proximal frame). Participants then completed measures of psychological distance of climate change impacts, climate change concern, and intentions to engage in mitigation behavior. Principal components analysis indicated that psychological distance to climate change was best conceptualized as a multidimensional construct consisting of four components: geographic, temporal, social, and uncertainty. Path analysis revealed the effect of the treatment frame on climate change concern and intentions was fully mediated by psychological distance dimensions related to uncertainty and social distance. Our results suggest that climate communications framed to reduce psychological distance represent a promising strategy for increasing public engagement with climate change.

En Route to Depression: Self-Esteem Discrepancies and Habitual Rumination.

Dual-process models of cognitive vulnerability to depression suggest that some individuals possess discrepant implicit and explicit self-views, such as high explicit and low implicit self-esteem (fragile self-esteem) or low explicit and high implicit self-esteem (damaged self-esteem). This study investigated whether individuals with discrepant self-esteem may employ depressive rumination in an effort to reduce discrepancy-related dissonance, and whether the relationship between self-esteem discrepancy and future depressive symptoms varies as a function of rumination tendencies. Hierarchical regressions examined whether self-esteem discrepancy was associated with rumination in an Australian undergraduate sample at Time 1 (N = 306; M(age) = 29.9), and whether rumination tendencies moderated the relationship between self-esteem discrepancy and depressive symptoms assessed 3 months later (n = 160). Damaged self-esteem was associated with rumination at Time 1. As hypothesized, rumination moderated the relationship between self-esteem discrepancy and depressive symptoms at Time 2, where fragile self-esteem and high rumination tendencies at Time 1 predicted the highest levels of subsequent dysphoria. Results are consistent with dual-process propositions that (a) explicit self-regulation strategies may be triggered when explicit and implicit self-beliefs are incongruent, and (b) rumination may increase the likelihood of depression by expending cognitive resources and/or amplifying negative implicit biases.

Applying behavioral theories to invasive animal management: Towards an integrated framework.

Invasive species wreak an estimated $1.4 trillion in damages globally, each year. To have any hope of reducing this damage, best-practice control strategies must incorporate behavior change interventions. Traditional interventions, based on the knowledge-transfer model, assume that if land managers are properly educated about risks and strategies, they will develop supportive attitudes and implement appropriate control strategies. However, the social sciences have produced a large number of behavioral models and frameworks that demonstrate that knowledge transfer, by itself, fails to change behavior. The challenge then lies in knowing which behavioral model to choose, and when, from a potentially overwhelming 'universe'. In this paper, we review nine behavior theories relevant to invasive species management. We then introduce the Behavior Change Wheel as a tool for integrating these theories into a single practical framework. This framework links drivers of and barriers to behavior change with intervention strategies and policies, in what we consider, from an applied perspective, to be an important advance.

Arousal, working memory capacity, and sexual decision-making in men.

This study investigated whether working memory capacity (WMC) moderated the relationship between physiological arousal and sexual decision making. A total of 59 men viewed 20 consensual and 20 non-consensual images of heterosexual interaction while their physiological arousal levels were recorded using skin conductance response. Participants also completed an assessment of WMC and a date-rape analogue task for which they had to identify the point at which an average Australian male would cease all sexual advances in response to verbal and/or physical resistance from a female partner. Participants who were more physiologically aroused by and spent more time viewing the non-consensual sexual imagery nominated significantly later stopping points on the date-rape analogue task. Consistent with our predictions, the relationship between physiological arousal and nominated stopping point was strongest for participants with lower levels of WMC. For participants with high WMC, physiological arousal was unrelated to nominated stopping point. Thus, executive functioning ability (and WMC in particular) appears to play an important role in moderating men's decision making with regard to sexually aggressive behavior.

Heritability of preferred thinking styles and a genetic link to working memory capacity.

Genetic and environmental contributions to preferences for rational and experiential thinking were examined in 100 pairs of monozygotic and 73 pairs of same-sex dizygotic Australian twins. Univariate analyses for experiential thinking and working memory capacity (WMC) revealed genetic effects accounted for 44% and 39% of the variability respectively, with non-shared environmental effects accounting for the balance. For rational thinking, the univariate models produced ambiguous results about the relative roles of heritability and shared environment, but a subsequent Cholesky analysis suggested genetic effects accounted for 34%, with the balance, 66%, explained by the non-shared environment. The Cholesky analysis revealed that shared genetic effects accounted for 60%, and non-shared environment accounted for 40% of the relationship between preference for rational thinking and WMC.

Profiles of psychological well-being in a sample of Australian university students.

The present study identified psychological well-being profiles in a sample of Australian university students (N = 207, Mean age = 30.16 years; SD = 11.90). Respondents completed two measures: Ryff's (1989) Psychological Well-Being (PWB) scale and Lovibond and Lovibond's (2002) Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) assessing their levels of PWB and depression. Latent profile analysis was applied to six indices of positive functioning derived from PWB scale: self-acceptance, purpose in life, environmental mastery, positive relations with others, personal growth and autonomy. An optimal 5-profile solution, reflecting significant incremental shifts from very low to very high PWB, was interpreted. As predicted, profile membership distinguished participants on depression. Importantly, profiles indicating moderate to very high PWB, particularly with the presence of above average autonomy, reported significantly lower levels of depression. Our results suggest prevention of, and treatment efficacy for, mental health problems may be improved by incorporating strategies that address positive functioning attributes, particularly associated with a sense of autonomy.

Audience segmentation of New Zealand cat owners: Understanding the barriers and drivers of cat containment behavior.

Free-roaming companion cats have a detrimental impact on the environment and are at risk of harm. Despite these negative impacts, it is the norm in New Zealand (NZ) to allow companion cats to roam freely and only a minority of cat owners practice cat containment. This study firstly sought to identify what factors act as barriers and drivers of NZ owners' participation in cat containment, and secondly whether NZ owners could be segmented into unique audiences based on the factors predicting their cat containment behavior. It was hypothesized that cat owners with greater capability, opportunity, and motivation to perform cat containment would have greater cat containment intentions and behavior. Furthermore, it was expected that at least three segments of cat owners would exist in NZ which differed significantly in the set of capability, opportunity and motivational factors predicting their cat containment behavior. A quantitative online cross-sectional survey of 395 NZ cat owners was conducted, measuring containment intentions and behavior, and capability, opportunity, and motivation to perform cat containment. Results from bivariate correlations and multiple regression demonstrated that capability, opportunity, and motivational factors predicted increased cat containment intentions and behavior. Latent profile analysis identified four distinct segments of cat owners with unique COM profiles; engaged (6%), receptive (17%), ambivalent (48%), and opposed (30%). Validation analysis demonstrated that these groups all differed significantly in their cat containment intentions and behaviors. From these findings theoretically grounded behavior change interventions can be developed to target the causes of non-participation in cat containment for each of the identified cat owner segments, thereby improving the management of free-roaming cats in NZ.

Environmental stewardship: A systematic scoping review.

Environmental stewardship is a term describing both the philosophy and the actions required to protect, restore, and sustainably use natural resources for the future benefit of the environment and society. In this paper, we review the environmental science literature to map the types of practical actions that are identified as 'environmental stewardship' using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for scoping reviews. We specifically mapped: 1) the type of actions and outcomes targeting the natural environment that have been categorized as environmental stewardship, 2) the main actors, and the underlying factors influencing their environmental stewardship actions, and 3) the methods used to mobilize environmental stewardship actions once these factors are known. From the 77 selected articles, we found the term environmental stewardship encompassed a multitude of different actions, undertaken by a range of actors and addressing an array of issues that impact biodiversity on the land and in the water. These stewardship actions were conducted on both privately-owned and publicly managed lands and waterways, and across rural and urban landscapes. Despite many studies identifying characteristics and underlying behavioral factors that predicted actors' participation in stewardship actions, there were few studies formally evaluating interventions to increase stewardship. Our review highlighted the term environmental stewardship is not embraced by all and is viewed by some as being inconsistent with aspects of indigenous worldviews. A better understanding of the concept of environmental stewardship and continued practical research into its practice is fundamental to empowering people to demand and enact environmental stewardship as well as for evaluating the success of their actions.

Effectiveness of a self-guided web-based cannabis treatment program: randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Self-help strategies offer a promising way to address problems with access to and stigma associated with face-to-face drug and alcohol treatment, and the Internet provides an excellent delivery mode for such strategies. To date, no study has tested the effectiveness of a fully self-guided web-based treatment for cannabis use and related problems. OBJECTIVES: The current study was a two-armed randomized controlled trial aimed at testing the effectiveness of Reduce Your Use, a fully self-guided web-based treatment program for cannabis use disorder consisting of 6 modules based on cognitive, motivational, and behavioral principles. METHODS: 225 individuals who wanted to cease or reduce their cannabis use were recruited using both online and offline advertising methods and were randomly assigned to receive: (1) the web-based intervention, or (2) a control condition consisting of 6 modules of web-based educational information on cannabis. Assessments of cannabis use, dependence symptoms, and abuse symptoms were conducted through online questionnaires at baseline, and at 6-week and 3-month follow-ups. Two sets of data analyses were undertaken--complier average causal effect (CACE) modeling and intention to treat (ITT). RESULTS: Two thirds (149) of the participants completed the 6-week postintervention assessment, while 122 (54%) completed the 3-month follow-up assessment. Participants in the intervention group completed an average of 3.5 of the 6 modules. The CACE analysis revealed that at 6 weeks, the experimental group reported significantly fewer days of cannabis use during the past month (P=.02), significantly lower past-month quantity of cannabis use (P=.01), and significantly fewer symptoms of cannabis abuse (P=.047) relative to controls. Cannabis dependence symptoms (number and severity) and past-month abstinence did not differ significantly between groups (Ps>.05). Findings at 3 months were similar, except that the experimental group reported significantly fewer and less severe cannabis dependence symptoms (Ps<.05), and past-month quantity of cannabis consumed no longer differed significantly between groups (P=.16). ITT analyses yielded similar outcomes. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that web-based interventions may be an effective means of treating uncomplicated cannabis use and related problems and reducing the public health burden of cannabis use disorders. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12609000856213, Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry.

Purchasing sustainable palm oil products: narrowing the intention-behavior gap.

Experts on palm oil production and utilization emphasize the role of consumer purchasing power in dealing with the environmental and social impacts of the palm oil crisis -that by increasing the demand for sustainable palm oil (SPO), greater supply will follow. However, research has identified a persistent intention-behavior gap. Even knowledgeable consumers do not always follow through on their intentions to purchase SPO. Utilizing the Capability-Opportunity Motivation model of Behavior (COM-B), this article reviews important variables contributing to this intention-behavior gap. While knowledge about palm oil and SPO (capability), perceived product availability (opportunity), and pro-green consumption attitudes (motivation) are important predictors of SPO purchasing intentions, increasing these factors has been insufficient in narrowing the intention-behavior gap. Campaigns can increase knowledge about palm oil and SPO, as well as build motivation around making the 'sustainable' choice, but are inadequate in addressing barriers around opportunity (e.g., ease of access to SPO products). In expressing their intent to purchase SPO products, consumers may underestimate the difficulties in being able to identify these consumables (e.g., palm oil often is not clearly labeled, sustainability status may not be obvious), and locate them. In this review, we argue that while consumer behavior is important, it is insufficient to power industry-wide change toward the utilization of SPO. Greater corporate responsibility is needed to increase use of SPO in products, and make consumables containing SPO more available, identifiable, and affordable for consumers. We also suggest that national procurement policies for SPO are likely to produce longer-lasting change.

Australian Youth Mental Health and Climate Change Concern After the Black Summer Bushfires.

Climate change and its effects present notable challenges for mental health, particularly for vulnerable populations, including young people. Immediately following the unprecedented Black Summer bushfire season of 2019/2020, 746 Australians (aged 16-25 years) completed measures of mental health and perceptions of climate change. Results indicated greater presentations of depression, anxiety, stress, adjustment disorder symptoms, substance abuse, and climate change distress and concern, as well as lower psychological resilience and perceived distance to climate change, in participants with direct exposure to these bushfires. Findings highlight significant vulnerabilities of concern for youth mental health as climate change advances.

The multiple sclerosis work difficulties questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: A better understanding of the workplace difficulties experienced by people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) may be critical to developing appropriate vocational and rehabilitative programs. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the factor structure, internal consistency and validity of the new Multiple Sclerosis Work Difficulties Questionnaire (MSWDQ). METHODS: Work difficulty items were developed and reviewed by a panel of experts. Using the MSWDQ, cross-sectional self-report data of work difficulties were obtained in addition to employment status and MS disease information, in a community-based sample of 189 PwMS. RESULTS: Exploratory Maximum Likelihood Factor Analysis on the draft questionnaire yielded 50 items measuring 12 factors. Subscale internal consistencies ranged from 0.74 to 0.92, indicating adequate to excellent internal consistency reliability. The MSWDQ explained 40% of the variance in reduced work hours since diagnosis, 40% of the variance in expectations about withdrawing from work, 34% of the variance in expectations about reducing work hours, and 39% of the variance in expectations about changing type of work due to MS. CONCLUSION: The MSWDQ is a valid and internally reliable measure of workplace difficulties in PwMS. Physical difficulties, as well as cognitive and psychological difficulties were important predictors of workplace outcomes and expectations about future employment.

Self-compassion, physical health, and health behaviour: a meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis investigated relationships between self-compassion and (1) physical health and (2) health-promoting behaviour in a large pooled sample (N = 29,588) sourced from 94 peer-reviewed articles. As hypothesised, omnibus analyses revealed positive associations between self-compassion and both physical health (r = .18) and health behaviour (r = .26). Moderation analyses using 290 effects found that both associations varied according to health domain, participant age, intervention duration, and self-compassion measure. Self-compassion predicted outcomes in most health domains, with the strongest effects observed on global physical health, functional immunity, composite health behaviour, sleep, and danger avoidance. It did not predict frailty, maladaptive bodily routines, and substance abuse. Multi-session interventions designed to boost self-compassion predicted increased physical health and health behaviour, thereby supporting causal links between self-compassion and health outcomes. The effects of single-session inductions were non-significant. The mean effect of self-compassion on physical health was non-significant for young participants (12.00-19.99) and its effect on health behaviour was weakest among older participants (40.00+). Results support the proposition that self-compassion can promote better physical health. Practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Palm oil: Understanding barriers to sustainable consumption.

Palm oil is relatively inexpensive, versatile, and popular, generating great economic value for Southeast Asian countries. However, the growing demand for palm oil is leading to deforestation and biodiversity loss. The current study is the first to employ a capability-opportunity-motivation (COM-B) framework in green consumerism, to determine which capability, opportunity, and motivation factors strongly predict the intentional purchasing of sustainable palm oil products by Australian consumers (N = 781). Exploratory factor analysis revealed four main types of predictors of SPO purchasing-Pro-Green Consumption Attitudes, Demotivating Beliefs, Knowledge and Awareness, and Perceived Product Availability. Multiple regression revealed that these four factors explained 50% of the variability in SPO purchasing behaviour, out of which Knowledge and Awareness accounted for 18% of the unique variance. Perceived Product Availability and Pro-Green Consumption Attitudes were also significant predictors but accounted for only 2% and 1% of unique variance, respectively. These results provide a valuable foundation for designing behaviour change interventions to increase consumer demand for sustainable palm oil products.

How personal values shape job seeker preference: A policy capturing study.

Does the "ideal" organization exist? Or do different workplace attributes attract different people? And if so, what attributes attract what types of employees? This study combines person-organization fit theory and a policy capturing methodology to determine (a) which attributes are the strongest predictors of perceived organization attractiveness in a sample of Australian job seekers, and (b) whether the magnitude of these predictive effects varies as a function of job seekers' personal values. The design of this study is a randomized experiment of Australian job seekers who responded to an online survey invitation. Each of the 400 respondents received a random subset of 8 of 64 possible descriptions of organizations. Each description presented an organization that scored either high or low on six attributes based on the Employer Attractiveness Scale: economic, development, interest, social, application, and environmental value. Multi-level modelling revealed that all six attributes positively predicted job seekers' ratings of organization attractiveness, with the three strongest predictors being social, environmental, and application value. Moderation analyses revealed that participants with strong self-transcendent or weak self-enhancement values were most sensitive to the absence of social, environmental, and application value in workplaces, down-rating organizations that scored low on these attributes. Our results demonstrate how job seekers' personal values shape preferences for different types of workplaces. Organizations may be able to improve recruitment outcomes by matching working conditions to the personal values of workers they hope to employ.

Do dispositional rumination and/or mindfulness moderate the relationship between life hassles and psychological dysfunction in adolescents?

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the moderating effects of dispositional rumination and mindfulness on the relationship between recent life hassles and adolescent mental health (operationalized as symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress). METHOD: Data collected from a sample of 317 Australian high school students comprised an inventory of recent life hassles, measures of dispositional rumination and dispositional mindfulness and an assessment of current symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. RESULTS: An increased incidence of recent life hassles was reliably associated with increased depressive symptoms, anxiety and stress. However, moderation analyses revealed that dispositional rumination exacerbated the relationship between life hassles and symptoms of depression and anxiety, whereas dispositional mindfulness attenuated the relationship between life hassles and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions to increase dispositional mindfulness in childhood are proposed as a method of protecting the psychological well-being of adolescents confronted by inevitable everyday life stress.

Development and psychometric evaluation of a measure to assess distress in partners of Australian combat veterans.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to develop and evaluate a multidimensional measure of distress experienced by partners of Australian combat veterans. METHOD: The Partners of Veterans Distress Scale (POV-DS) was developed using factor analysis on a sample of 665 female members of Partners of Veterans Association of Australia. Content validity for the scale was established by using focus groups and expert feedback during item development phase. In addition, two self-report inventories were administered to assess physical/mental health, and satisfaction with life. RESULTS: Following principal-axis factoring, 45 items were retained, loading on seven distinct but correlated factors: Sleep problems, Hyper-vigilance, Social isolation, Financial problems, Intimacy problems, Exhaustion, and Negative affect. The factor structure was cross-validated using confirmatory factor analysis on a hold-out sample. The distress subscales all exhibited excellent internal consistency (alphas ranged from 0.84 to 0.95). Validation analyses revealed subscales derived from the seven-factor model explained 31% to 45% of the variance in partners' physical health, mental health, and satisfaction with life. CONCLUSIONS: The study found that the POV-DS is a reliable and valid tool for assessing distress in partners of Australian combat veterans.