Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0001-2854-2851

Date of Award

Summer 8-2025

Document Type

Campus Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Dr. Evan Stewart

Second Advisor

Dr. Jorge Capetillo

Third Advisor

Dr. Lorena Estrada-Martinez

Abstract

As climate threats become more frequent and intense, the need for preparedness and adaptation has become an urgent, rather than distant, priority. Longstanding structural inequities, including redlining, economic exclusion, and racialized labor segmentation, have disproportionately exposed low-income and racialized communities to environmental hazards. Among these groups, Latinos, one of the fastest-growing populations in the United States, face heightened vulnerability to climate risks. This dissertation examines the climate belief-action gap and structural barriers to individual and household climate adaptation across racial and ethnic groups, focusing on Latino communities in the United States. It is structured into three empirical chapters, moving from macro-level theoretical and statistical validation using survey data to comparative demographic analysis to qualitative focus group narratives. Chapter 2 uses Confirmatory Factor Analysis to introduce climate preparedness into the structure of climate culture and test its model fit against traditional measures of climate attitudes that overemphasize agency or individual values and responsibility. Preparedness emerged as a distinct behavioral construct, weakly associated with attitudinal measures, supporting the belief-action gap in climate change, and setting the methodological and conceptual ground of the project.

Chapter 3 builds on this by disaggregating the structure of climate culture by race and ethnicity, uncovering significant variations in the belief-action gap. The findings show that, first, Black and Latino respondents are generally less prepared than white respondents despite showing higher levels of concern and policy support, and second, concern is more strongly associated with preparedness for Black and Latino respondents. These patterns suggest a narrower belief-action gap among structurally marginalized groups and challenge the assumption that climate preparedness uniformly follows concern across all populations. This finding supports the expectation that preparedness, shaped by the interplay of agency and structure, reflects situated forms of knowledge, social capital, perception of risk, and the lived experience of disproportionate exposure to environmental risks.

To better understand the meanings, motivations, and barriers behind these patterns, particularly for Latino residents in two climate-vulnerable communities, Chapter 4 draws on qualitative focus group data from residents of East Boston and Chelsea, Massachusetts. The findings illustrate how the complex interplay of structural constraints, transnational perspectives, and community-based support systems shape preparedness. This dissertation contributes to broader discussions on environmental justice and climate adaptation, underscoring the need for policies that promote localized, culturally responsive strategies that leverage community knowledge and collective action to enhance climate resilience. By centering on the perspectives of structurally marginalized groups, this study redefines climate adaptation as both an individual and collective process embedded within broader systems of constraint and inequality.

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