Catholic religious identity, prosocial and pro-environmental behaviors, and connectedness to nature in Chile

Abstract

Prosociality (caring for one another) has been identified as a correlate of pro-environmental behavior. While our study affirmed the role of the Catholic Church in teaching prosociality, it did not reveal any direct link between Catholic identity and pro-environmental behavior. By incorporating environmental education into its teaching, the Catholic Church might promote environmentalism and inspire followers to take a leap towards their “ecological conversion”.Catholic religious groups have historically been underrepresented in environ mental movements. On the other hand, researchers have sought for decades to understand the factors that determine pro-environmental behavior. In this paper, data were obtained from two studies capturing different sample populations in Chile. The objective of the first study was to explore the interconnection of the Catholic religious identity, prosocial and pro-environmental behaviors. The objective of the second study was to explore the interconnection of the Catholic religious identity, pro-environmental behavior and connectedness to nature. Participants were students at a Catholic university and members of the general public. The findings demonstrate that Catholic identity positively correlated with prosocial behavior, which in turn positively correlated with pro-environmental behavior. However, we found no direct link between Catholic identity and pro-environmental behavior. Likewise, self-reporting Catholic individuals scored significantly lower on the scale of connectedness to nature, in comparison with nonreligious persons. Finally, the surveys revealed that connectedness to nature positively correlated with pro-environmental behavior.