Abstract
Understanding environmental attitudes (EAs) has been viewed as prerequisite to changing environmental behaviour and is a particularly salient topic in the context of higher educational institutions which play an important role in shaping students’ worldviews. As such, the study aimed to explore EAs of undergraduate students at three different campuses of a South African University (n = 1283) and to examine how these EAs differ in terms of students’ demographic characteristics. A structured questionnaire was used to collect biographical data, and EAs were assessed via the Revised New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP) and the Environmental Attitudes Inventory (Short form) (EAI-24). Results indicated that students’ EAs lean more towards utilization, which is an anti-environmental factor, than to the pro-environmental factor of preservation. Furthermore, demographic factors such as gender and ethnicity were significantly, but often a-stereotypically associated with students’ EAs. These results have practical implications for tailoring environmental-based interventions aimed at enhancing pro-environmental attitudes among students. However, the results also raise concerns about the cross-cultural validity and efficacy of some EA-related measuring instruments and environmental organizations, and suggest that a need exists to develop culturally sensitive EA measures, as well as environmental organizations that incorporate a greater focus on social justice and indigenous knowledge systems.
Highlights
The responsibility to prevent and counter the unsustainable use of natural resources is a prominent 21st-century issue and has reiterated the importance of humans viewing themselves as part of nature and subsequently part of the problem (Vining, Merrick, & Price, 2008; Mary, 2008)
In contrast to the overall picture painted by the results derived from the EAI-24 scores, the student group’s mean score on the New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP), which measures ecological worldviews, was moderately high (M = 3.54, SD = 0.48) indicating that the participants’ attitudes were mildly proenvironmental
In light of findings that environmental knowledge has been found to significantly predict pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) in African contexts (Amoah & Addoah, 2020), and that environmental attitudes (EAs) are robust predictors of PEB in some student populations (Shafiei & Maleksaeidi, 2020) this suggests that initiatives aimed at instilling pro-environmental EAs among university students such as those involved in the present study would be well-warranted
Summary
The responsibility to prevent and counter the unsustainable use of natural resources is a prominent 21st-century issue and has reiterated the importance of humans viewing themselves as part of nature and subsequently part of the problem (Vining, Merrick, & Price, 2008; Mary, 2008). One way to achieve this is to start at institutions of higher education, where the success of environmental education and sustainability programmes often depend on the EAs of its students (Zilahy & Huisingh, 2009). Investigating students’ EAs is important because students are highly susceptible to new attitudes and worldviews and will carry these new EAs with them into their prospective communities and workplaces (Lozano, Lukman, Lozano, Huisingh, & Lambrechts, 2013), and as they will become the guardians, planners, policymakers and future educators related to environmental issues (Shafiei & Maleksaeidi, 2020). Some research has shown that no significant relationship exists between
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