Planet Earth is undergoing unprecedented levels of environmental degradation and destruction at a global scale. Incentivizing people to adopt behaviors that are compatible with a sustainable future will help address the current ecological crisis. However, it is first necessary to understand the psychological drivers of pro-environmental behavior. Here, we examined whether greater levels of environmental knowledge and empathy predicted higher levels of pro-environmental behavior in an Australian population sample. We aimed to advance our understanding of the psychological variables that motivate people to act in pro-environmental ways, while also advancing the ongoing debate amongst conservation scientists regarding the relative importance of fostering empathy. Correlational analyses revealed that objective, verifiable knowledge was a strong predictor of pro-environmental attitudes and behavior. Empathy also correlated positively with pro-environmental attitudes and behavior, but with a dissociation with respect to its cognitive and affective components. Multivariate analyses revealed that knowledge was a stronger predictor of both pro-environmental attitudes and behavior after controlling for individual variation in cognitive and affective empathy. This finding casts doubt on the claim by compassionate conservationists that fostering empathy is the key to solving the current environmental conservation crisis. Future research should aim to extend the present findings by testing whether a more exhaustive test of participants’ environmental knowledge and other measures of empathy, including empathic competencies and the recently developed Emotional and Cognitive Scale of the Human–Nature Relationship (ECS-HNR), yield the same dominance of knowledge over empathy.

Despite social class being a burgeoning area of research in the higher education literature, there is no single comprehensive measure of social class in university student populations. Most previous research has included objective single-item measures (e.g., parent education or occupation) to assess social class and then sorted students into distinct social class categories using these items. Such approaches do not adequately capture the complexity and nuance of class, and they ignore the subjective and social components involved. The present paper reports the development and validation of an 11-item Comprehensive Social Class Scale (CSCS) that uses a mix of objective and subjective items to assess multiple aspects of social class, including education level, occupational prestige, family affluence, social class identity and subjective social status. Across 12 samples (N = 4926), we provide evidence for a single factor structure of the CSCS and demonstrate aspects of its reliability and validity. We conclude by discussing some limitations and suggestions for use of the CSCS in higher education populations.

Background: Depression and anxiety are prevalent in working-aged adults. Although treatment provided by health professionals can improve symptoms and functioning, many people experiencing mental ill-health do not seek help. There have been very few effective interventions to improve help seeking in adults, with none implemented across diverse workplaces through online delivery. Objective: The primary aim of this trial was to test the effectiveness of a co-designed program for increasing professional help seeking intentions in Australian employees, relative to an active control condition. Methods: A triple-blinded, 2-arm cluster randomized controlled trial (N=487; control workplaces: n=26 and intervention workplaces: n=25) was conducted to assess the relative effectiveness of Helipad, a fully automated co-designed single-session interactive program (intervention condition) with a standard psychoeducation program (active control condition). Eligible workplaces (those with ≥50 employees and an employee assistance program; clusters) were recruited via advertising or invited directly by researchers. Eligible participants (employees in a participating Australian workplace, aged ≥18 y, living in Australia, fluent in reading and understanding English, and had access to a device and a reliable internet connection) completed a pretest, immediate posttest, and 6-month follow-up survey sent via email assessing help seeking intentions (primary outcome); mental illness stigma; mental health literacy; help seeking attitudes and behavior; work and activity functioning; quality of life; and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and general psychological distress. Results: A significant difference in change over time in professional help seeking intentions was found between the 2 conditions ( F _2,185.44 =6.89; P =.001), with planned contrasts showing that the Helipad program was effective in increasing professional help seeking intentions compared with the control at the primary end point of immediate posttest ( t _359.35 =−3.72; P <.001). This difference was not maintained at the 6-month follow-up ( t _119.76 =−1.05; P =.30). Retention rates were 71.1% at posttest and 24.9% at follow-up. The Helipad program was also associated with improved mental health literacy and help seeking attitudes at posttest. Helipad was not significantly superior to the control in reducing mental illness stigma or improving professional help seeking behavior; functioning; quality of life; or symptoms of depression, anxiety, or general psychological distress (secondary outcomes) at the 6-month follow-up. A total of 15 people (control: n=9, 4.5%; intervention: n=6, 4.3%) reported adverse events at posttest. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the co-designed online Helipad program was effective in improving the intentions of employees to seek help from a professional compared to an active control. The program also improved mental health literacy and help seeking attitudes, but these changes were not sustained and did not translate into observable differences in help seeking behaviors or mental health symptoms. This was the first trial of a co-designed intervention to improve mental health help seeking in general workplaces, with previous trials focusing primarily on specific high-risk work environments. Workplace programs that can be delivered at scale may lead to more appropriate engagement with professional mental health care to prevent poor mental health outcomes and increase productivity.