Waste sorting behaviors promote subjective well-being: A perspective of the self-nature association

Abstract

As one of the most important pro-environmental behaviors, individuals’ waste sorting behaviors are positively associated with their subjective well-being. This relationship is usually explained by the “self-other association”, regarding waste sorting behaviors as pro-social deeds, thus elevating people’s positive self-perception and strengthening a sense of interpersonal relatedness. Distinct from the general “good deeds”, the ultimate beneficiary of waste sorting behaviors is the natural environment instead of other people, so the mechanism underlying the positive relationship between performing a general good deed and subjective well-being might not suffice to explain the positive association between waste sorting behaviors and subjective well-being. The current study proposed the “self-nature association” with the cognitive (i.e., environmental perception) and the affective (i.e., nature connectedness) pathways. Using a large sample national survey in China (N = 4,705), we confirmed the positive link between waste sorting behaviors and subjective well-being, and the dual pathway was verified by a parallel mediation analysis. The theoretical and practical values of the present work were further explicated.