Unveiling a dual mediating chain of cognition-emotion-behavior pathway: How environmental event concerns motivate pro-environmental behaviors among undergraduate students in eastern and central China

Introduction The growing global environmental crisis, such as resource depletion and climate change risks, poses a serious threat to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. As the core strategy to alleviate environmental crisis, pro-environment behaviors (PEBs) can significantly reduce carbon emissions and support sustainable development of the environment. However, the influencing factors and underlying mechanisms of PEBs have not yet been fully elucidated. Methods A total of 620 undergraduate students from Nanjing, Hefei and Wuhan were selected as the research objects. Correlation analysis, structural equation model, and mediating effect test were employed to delve into the inductive mechanism of environmental events concerns (EEC) of undergraduate students on their PEBs to test the hypothesized paths. Results The EEC of undergraduate students directly and positively affected their climate risk awareness, environmental responsibility, and PEBs. Further analysis results demonstrated that EEC also could indirectly strengthened PEBs by the chained mediating pathway of EEC → climate risk awareness → environmental responsibility → PEBs. This uncovered the critical underlying mechanism through which the EEC of undergraduate students influenced PEBs via a dual mediating chain of cognition → emotion → behavior. Additionally, the core bridging role of environmental responsibility and synergy among variables was clarified, which verified the logical chain in Value-belief-norm (VBN) theory. Discussion This study is based on the VBN theory and constructs a chained mediating theoretical framework of cognition-emotion-behavior. It clarifies the chained mediating mechanism between EEC and PEBs, supplements the dynamic activation path of the VBN theory, and provides targeted theoretical basis and practical references for promoting the formation of PEBs among college students. Diverse publicity and practical measures should be adopted to enhance the climate risk awareness and environmental responsibility of college students, thereby motivating them to take the initiative to protect the environment.