Physical activity and climate change attitudes

Abstract

Climate change has impacted people, communities, and industries around the world, including sport and physical activity. Drawing from Stern’s (J Soc Issues 56(3):407–424, 2000) value-belief-norm theory, which focuses on identifying predictors of environmentally significant behavior, the purpose of this study was to explore the degree to which physical activity participation is associated with pro-environmental attitudes. The authors collected data at the county level in the USA (N = 3136), accessing publicly available data from a variety of sources. They also controlled for potential alternative explanations, including percent of the county population living in a rural setting, age 65 or older, that is female, that is non-Hispanic White, that has a college degree or greater, and that voted Democrat in the 2016 Presidential election. Results indicate that physical activity participation was positively associated with people’s belief that climate change personally affects them. These beliefs were, in turn, positively associated with the belief new policies are needed to address climate change. The authors discuss contributions to theory and practice.