Yanniris, C.; Gavrilakis, C.; Hoover, M.L. Direct Experience of Nature as a Predictor of Environmentally Responsible Behaviors. Forests2023, 14, 2233.
Yanniris, C.; Gavrilakis, C.; Hoover, M.L. Direct Experience of Nature as a Predictor of Environmentally Responsible Behaviors. Forests 2023, 14, 2233.
Yanniris, C.; Gavrilakis, C.; Hoover, M.L. Direct Experience of Nature as a Predictor of Environmentally Responsible Behaviors. Forests2023, 14, 2233.
Yanniris, C.; Gavrilakis, C.; Hoover, M.L. Direct Experience of Nature as a Predictor of Environmentally Responsible Behaviors. Forests 2023, 14, 2233.
Abstract
A small but growing body of literature suggests that outdoor experiences during childhood affect environment-related behaviors in adulthood. However, research on the magnitude of the effect (effect size) of outdoor experience on learners’ behaviors remains scarce. In this study, we explore the extent to which outdoor experiences associate with environmentally responsible behaviors. Our sample consisted of 143 ninth- and tenth-grade students living on a Greek island. The data were collected using a properly adjusted environmental literacy instrument. Two different methodological pathways, i.e., a quasi-experimental approach and correlation analysis, were used to analyse the data. A tentative variable representing the frequency and intensity of students’ experiential contact with nature was found to be the strongest available predictor of their self-reported pro-environmental behaviors. The findings of this study support the significance of outdoor, experiential learning during childhood in shaping individuals’ environmental behaviors.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
