Individual differences in executive functions contribute to adolescents' everyday pro-environmental behavior

Pro-environmental behavior (PEB) is often framed as a self-regulatory challenge, yet evidence linking executive functions (EF), the cognitive resources that support self-regulation, to PEB remains scarce and mixed. We conducted two complementary studies to examine whether and which core EF components (inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) are associated with adolescents’ everyday PEB, and whether conclusions depend on how EF is assessed. In Study 1 (n = 224), adolescents completed a battery of six laboratory EF tasks; task-based EF showed little evidence of reliable associations with PEB, with only a small and non-robust link for trail-making performance. In Study 2 (n = 465), adolescents completed validated self-report measures of everyday EF; all three EF components correlated with PEB, but only inhibition and cognitive flexibility uniquely predicted PEB when modeled simultaneously, and these effects remained after controlling for demographics and the Big Five personality traits. Overall, typical everyday EF (especially inhibition and cognitive flexibility), as indexed by self-report, showed stronger and unique associations with everyday PEB than did optimal EF performance on laboratory tasks. Reducing demands on inhibition and cognitive flexibility in everyday choice environments may help promote adolescent PEB.