Abstract
Despite the existence of a robust body of research that investigates human–nature connections, few scholars have examined what people tend to ponder when they think of nature. The objective of the study is to find out how college and university students think about nature. The study also seeks to identify which factors are most significant in influencing students’ thoughts about nature. This paper analyzes racial, gender, class, and academic differences in the way college students think about nature. The study of 287 American students found that respondents thought about a wide range of concepts and ideas when they contemplate nature. This article focuses on the demographic differences in thoughts about fear, danger, and loathing. This set of ideas has been the subject of scholarly research, and the findings presented herein contribute to this body of scholarship. The paper discusses both descriptive and multivariate techniques that are used to explore the topic. The study found that white students are less likely than racial/ethnic minorities to think about disconnection, predators, getting lost, loathsome or hateful places, fear, and danger when they think of nature. However, the results also show that it would be inaccurate to describe racial/ethnic minorities as universally fearful of and disconnected from nature. Moreover, the paper demonstrates that race is not the only explanatory variable that has significant impacts in multivariate models—the student’s academic interest has significant impacts on thoughts about natural hazards, disconnection, predators, human-made hazards, and loathsome or hateful places. Gender, age, parental education, and first-generation college attendance also has significant impacts on the dependent variables.
Highlights
Nature occupies an essential space in American environmental discourses
The Exp(β) signifies that Asians were 3.488 times, blacks 4.698 times, and LatinX/others 5.909 times more likely than white respondents to think of loathsome, hateful places frequently when they think of nature
The findings of this research demonstrate the need for scholars who study connections to and disconnections from
Summary
Nature occupies an essential space in American environmental discourses. Since the 19th century, activists and professionals have extolled the virtues of nature and sought to protect and manage it. Already discussed above, hypothesizes or finds that blacks fear being in natural settings, in the Lincoln Park study it was whites who were most concerned about safety. A limited number of studies have examined connectedness to nature and landscape preferences among American students. Bixler et al (2004) explored urban students' fear and discomfort in wildland areas in their research by asking 48 naturalists to assess how students responded to nature while on field trips. The study, which examined racial differences in thoughts about nature and landscape preferences, found that black, white, and other minority students identified specific objects (object-specific fear) and situations (situational fear) in natural settings that they feared, but did not express a generalized fear of nature. Gotch and Hall (2004) found that family members influenced how teens perceived nature. Hyun (2005) corroborates this finding
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