Environmental psychology has traditionally treated gender as a background or control variable, often overlooking its significance in shaping environmental perceptions and behaviors. Despite evidence confirming that gender influences various environmental effects and individual behaviors, the integration of gender issues into environmental psychology theories and empirical work remains incomplete. This gap is particularly evident in areas such as health outcomes, pro-environmental behaviors, climate change risk perceptions, and mitigation and adaptation activities. Current studies have yet to fully explore gender-specific matters in key areas like nature-health interactions, environmental design, and the effects of physical environmental factors such as noise and pollution. Consequently, a systematic understanding of how gender intersects with psychological processes is lacking, especially concerning gender differences in environmental concern. This deficiency is critical given the ongoing environmental crisis and its implications for understanding people-environment interactions.
This research topic aims to compile current research on gender and psychological processes and outcomes in people-environment interactions. The objective is to advance the field of environmental psychology by focusing on the role of gender across a broad range of topics. This includes examining gender-related socio-cultural norms, attitudes, and behaviors, gender roles and relations, gender stereotypes, and sex-related biological attributes. The goal is to understand the effects of restorative environments and the adverse impacts of environmental design and exposure. Additionally, the research topic aims to elucidate gender-related differences in pro-environmental behaviors, activism, and responses to climate change, including risk perceptions, mitigation, and adaptation activities. Research using quantitative methods is of interest as is qualitative and mixed method approaches.
To gather further insights into the boundaries of this research topic, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Gender-specific outcomes of people-environment transactions, including restorative outcomes, health and wellbeing, and contact with nature across various environments (natural, urban, home, and indoor settings).
- Gender and pro-environmental behaviors, encompassing a wide range of activities such as land stewardship, lifestyle behaviors impacting climate change, biodiversity, pollution, and natural resource utilization, as well as women's leadership in environmental and climate change activism.
- Gender inequalities in the adverse effects of environmental design and exposure, including challenges associated with adapting to and mitigating environmental factors.
- Any other topics related to women and the environment, including feminist methodologies and intersectional approaches in environmental psychology.
Keywords: Health, pro-environmental behaviors, environmental design, gender roles and relations, gender norms, gender stereotypes, gender inequalities, environmental activism
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
