Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Reduce Attention to Environmental Issues?

A Panel Study Among Parents in Belgium, 2019-2020

Authors

  • Sari Verachtert Author
  • Dieter Stiers Author
  • Marc Hooghe Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5553/PLC/.000031

Keywords:

issue competition, COVID-19 pandemic, panel study, environmental concern, Belgium

Abstract

Theories on issue competition assume that there is only a limited number of issues that a person prioritises simultaneously. In this research note, we test this mechanism by using a panel study that was conducted among Belgian parents in 2019 and 2020. Between the two observations of the study, the country suffered a severe health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigate whether this crisis reduced the priority of environmental issues among respondents. Our results show that there was indeed a significant decline of some indicators for environmental concern, but not for others. Furthermore, we show that a higher priority for the health-related and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a steeper decline in environmental concern.

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Author Biographies

  • Sari Verachtert

    Sari Verachtert is a PhD student at the Centre for Political Science at the University of Leuven. Her research focuses mainly on attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable development.

  • Dieter Stiers

    Dieter Stiers is post-doctoral researcher of FWO Vlaanderen at the Centre for Political Science Research at KU Leuven. His research focuses on elections and voting behaviour.

  • Marc Hooghe

    Marc Hooghe is a Full Professor of Political Science at the University of Leuven. He has written mostly about political participation and political trust.

Additional Files

Published

2025-03-12

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2022): Politics of the Low Countries

Section

Research Notes

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Verachtert, S., Stiers, D., & Hooghe, M. (2025). Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Reduce Attention to Environmental Issues? A Panel Study Among Parents in Belgium, 2019-2020. Politics of the Low Countries, 4(1), 100-115. https://doi.org/10.5553/PLC/.000031