Environmental Scale Research Articles

Affect, Satisfaction with Life and Pro-Environmental Behavior of Community Gardens Users in Southern Brazil

This study aimed to analyze the affect, satisfaction with life and pro-environmental behavior of community garden users. Of the total of participants, 22 (55.5%) were aged over 60 years and 18 (44.5%) were in middle age. Data were obtained through a multi-method methodology. Were applied the Affective Maps Generator Instrument, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale and the Environmental Behavior Scale. The results assessed pleasantness, restoration and belonging perception in the community gardens’ environment. High levels of satisfaction with life (M=28.38; SD=5.38) and positive affect (M=40.00; SD=5.51) were obtained. There was a high score in water and energy savings (M=4.14; SD=0.63) as well as in urban cleaning (M=4.62; SD=0.16), and an average score in recycling (M=3.23; SD=0.28) and a low score in activism and consumption (M=2.59; SD=0.14). It is concluded that interdisciplinary strategies should be encouraged to enhance community gardens’ experiences, such as mobile social technologies, which make it possible to encourage emancipatory behaviors among their users.

A mixed-model approach for estimating drivers of microbiota community composition and differential taxonomic abundance.

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) and metabarcoding approaches are increasingly applied to wild animal populations, but there is a disconnect between the widely applied generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) approaches commonly used to study phenotypic variation and the statistical toolkit from community ecology typically applied to metabarcoding data. Here, we describe the suitability of a novel GLMM-based approach for analyzing the taxon-specific sequence read counts derived from standard metabarcoding data. This approach allows decomposition of the contribution of different drivers to variation in community composition (e.g., age, season, individual) via interaction terms in the model random-effects structure. We provide guidance to implementing this approach and show how these models can identify how responsible specific taxonomic groups are for the effects attributed to different drivers. We applied this approach to two cross-sectional data sets from the Soay sheep population of St. Kilda. GLMMs showed agreement with dissimilarity-based approaches highlighting the substantial contribution of age and minimal contribution of season to microbiota community compositions, and simultaneously estimated the contribution of other technical and biological factors. We further used model predictions to show that age effects were principally due to increases in taxa of the phylum Bacteroidetes and declines in taxa of the phylum Firmicutes. This approach offers a powerful means for understanding the influence of drivers of community structure derived from metabarcoding data. We discuss how our approach could be readily adapted to allow researchers to estimate contributions of additional factors such as host or microbe phylogeny to answer emerging questions surrounding the ecological and evolutionary roles of within-host communities. IMPORTANCE NGS and fecal metabarcoding methods have provided powerful opportunities to study the wild gut microbiome. A wealth of data is, therefore, amassing across wild systems, generating the need for analytical approaches that can appropriately investigate simultaneous factors at the host and environmental scale that determine the composition of these communities. Here, we describe a generalized linear mixed-effects model (GLMM) approach to analyze read count data from metabarcoding of the gut microbiota, allowing us to quantify the contributions of multiple host and environmental factors to within-host community structure. Our approach provides outputs that are familiar to a majority of field ecologists and can be run using any standard mixed-effects modeling packages. We illustrate this approach using two metabarcoding data sets from the Soay sheep population of St. Kilda investigating age and season effects as worked examples.

Analyzing Attitudes to Promote Sustainability: The Adaptation of the Environmental Concern Scale (ECs) to the Italian Context

The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Environmental Concern scale (ECs) in the Italian context. Three studies were conducted. In Study 1, we carried out an exploratory factor analysis and a 2-factor solution-biospheric concern and egoistic concern—was confirmed. In Study 2, we tested the structure of the eight-items version of the ECs, using confirmatory factor analysis. The 2-factor structure was the best factorial solution. In this study we correlated the dimensions of ECs with life satisfaction and climate change worry. As expected, biospheric concern was significantly related to climate change worry, and egoistic concern was significantly related to life satisfaction. In Study 3, we tested the gender invariance. The ECs structure was the same for men and women. These studies demonstrate that the ECs possess good construct validity, factor structure, and invariance between genders. The measure can be used in the Italian context for future research.

Role of Demographics in Acculturation Stress Among Inter-caste Married Individuals

Acculturative stress is linked to an increase in mental health concerns, such as depression, anxiety, loneliness, and hopelessness. This study investigates the role of demographics in acculturation stress in inter-caste married people. In India, most of the communities did not openly state that an individual from other castes was not to be married, but that it deliberately encouraged marriages from the same castes to support society. However, due to the urbanization, globalization amongst Indian youth ready to marry other caste. This study investigates the role of demographics in acculturation stress amongst inter-caste married individuals. Seventy-four inter-caste married individuals were selected through purposive sampling, and the data were collected with the help of the Social, Attitudinal, Familial, and Environmental (SAFE) Acculturation stress scale developed by Mena, Padilla, and Maldonado (1987). The results revealed that there is significant difference in acculturation stress amongst inter-caste married individuals based on duration of the marriage and income of the family. There is no significant difference in acculturation stress based on gender, area of living, and types of family. It concluded that acculturation stress has an important role in the inter-caste marriage. The lack of support from family, friends, and society contributes to increased acculturation stress of inter-caste married individuals.

MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF WATER MOVEMENT DURING A DAM BREAK USING THE VOF METHOD

River valleys in mountainous areas are often subject to heavy rains and melting glaciers, resulting in the risk of mudflows and the destruction of hydraulic protective structures. In order to minimize the potential risk and negative outcomes of a disaster, both on an individual and environmental scale, it is crucial to possess essential information. This includes understanding the timing, location, and extent of flooding, as well as comprehending the force of water flow impact on protective structures. In the research, the numerical process of the movement of the water flow caused by the breakthrough of the dam is investigated. A two-dimensional numerical model of water flow during a dam break was constructed using the VOF method to describe the described process. With the help of the VOF method, the movement of the water surface is captured, while maintaining the law of conservation of mass. The mathematical model consists of Reynolds-averaged incompressible Navier-Stokes equations and includes the interphase equation. The turbulent k-e model was used to close the system of equations. The numerical algorithm used is PISO (Pressure-Implicit with Splitting of Operators). The obtained numerical results agree with the experimental data, indicating the developed algorithm’s reliability and accuracy. The results are presented as comparative graphs and images showing the contour of the free surface movement along the experimental reservoir. A numerical model that has been tested in this way can provide significant support in preventing the devastating consequences of a dam break and providing timely assistance during the evacuation of the population.

Development of a methodological approach for determination of environmental risks of water bodies pollution across industrially developed territories (as exemplified by the rivers of City of Kharkiv)

The study’s relevance consists in the need to determine the prospects for achieving a good environmental condition of Ukrainian water bodies in accordance with the Water Framework Directive of the European Union on establishing the framework of the Community's activities in the field of water policies. The question on ability to achieve the set goals is related to assessment of the environmental risks of surface water pollution by chemical substances. The purpose of the research is to develop new approaches to identification of the risks of surface rivers' water pollution across industrially developed territories. The study was carried out using the data of hydrochemical observations of the Lopan and the Kharkiv rivers. The rivers are located inside City of Kharkiv and exposed to pollution both by industrial discharges and municipal wastes. The work is based on application of a probabilistic approach aimed at determining quantitative indicators of the environmental risks using statistical distribution of such indicators. The scientific novelty consists in offering a method to determine modified water pollution indices and pollution risk indicators specifically for biogenic substances and heavy metals. This allows evaluating the prospects of ensuring a good environmental condition despite surface water pollution from various sources. The research results in presenting a method of building a scale for qualitative and quantitative assessment of environmental risks and their consequences. It relies upon semantical match of the gradations of aquatic environment quality indicators and chemical contamination risk indicators. The study that covers the Kharkiv and the Lopan rivers showed a close relationship between environmental risk indicators and water pollution indices. The revealed dependencies made it possible to harmonize the semantic gradation of aquatic environment quality scales and risk scales. Practical application of the developed methodology implies only calculation of the modified index of pollution by heavy metals or biogenic substances based on the observation data and establishing a possible risk zone and a corresponding environmental situation according to the environmental risk scale. The proposed approaches are recommended for use when determining environmental pollution risks across industrially developed territories of different countries.

KONTRIBUSI PT. MUTIARA ADONARA TERHADAP PENYERAPAN TENAGA KERJA DAN PENDAPATAN KELUARGA DI DESA OYANGBARANG KECAMATAN WOTAN ULUMADO KABUPATEN FLORES TIMUR

Felix Mubera Sogen, Marthen R. Pellokila, Marselina Ratu Program Studi Ekonomi Pembangunan Fakultas Ekonomi Dan Bisnis Universitas Nusa Cendana Email: felix.m.sogen@gmail.com ABSTRACT This research was conducted with the aim of explaining the contribution of PT. Mutiara Adonara on employment absorption in Oyangbarang Village, Wotan Ulumado District, East Flores Regency and explained the contribution of PT. Mutiara Adonara on the income of the family of company workers in Oyangbarang Village. This research is a descriptive research with a qualitative approach, the type of data used is qualitative and quantitative data with primary and secondary data sources. The research location of PT. Mutiara Adonara which is located in Oyangbarang Village, Wotan Ulumado District, East Flores Regency, the collection technique uses observation, interviews and documentation with data analysis techniques consisting of data reduction, data presentation and drawing conclusions. The results of this study show the contribution of PT. Mutiara Adonara on employment absorption in Oyangbarang Village by 35%, the contribution of PT. Mutiara Adonara on employment absorption in the Wotan Ulumado District of 3.53% and the contribution of PT. Mutiara Adonara on employment absorption in East Flores Regency by 0.12%. With these results based on the environmental quality scale the contribution of PT. Mutiara Adonara regarding employment in Oyangbarang Village is in the low category and for Wotan Ulumado District and East Flores Regency it is still in the very low category. While the contribution of PT. Mutiara Adonara to the income of the families of company workers in Oyangbarang Village, Wotan Ulumado District, East Flores Regency, amounting to 89.02%. This can be interpreted that, the income from working at PT. Mutiara Adonara has a large contribution to family labor income. Keywords: Contribution of PT. Mutiara Adonara, Labor Absorption, Family Income.

Aquaculture: How German Preservice Teachers’ Perception Interacts with Values, Knowledge, and Conceptions of Environmental Concern When Making Purchasing Decisions

Responsibly using resources is an essential goal of the 2030 agenda. An overall need for 180 tonnes of fish per year is pushing the limits of sustainable fishing. Teachers can focus on this topic to enhance the environmental awareness of sustainability issues in learners (e.g., sustainable consumption, production, and supporting sustainable judgements). For this purpose, we developed a questionnaire on the topic of aquaculture using LimeSurvey and administered this survey to preservice teachers. The survey contained five open questions relating to aquaculture terms, a semantic differential with 14 adjective pairs that concern the interest in and usefulness of aquacultures; the environmental motives scale to determine the environmental concern of the teachers, and a self-developed set of items on systems—consumption knowledge, and social influence. Individuals in the target group (n = 158) indicated that they thought aquaculture products were rather useless and uninteresting, and they purchased them less. The results showed that the participants mostly correctly defined the aquaculture terms, but an overall understanding of system- and consumption-related knowledge, for example, was missing. Aquaculture seems to be associated more with profit than with nutrition or environmental concerns. We illustrate a possible barrier to the communication of less-familiar issues in society.

Dominance of species sorting over dispersal at microgeographical scales in polluted lotic ecosystems

Global rivers, particularly those in populated urban areas, are challenged by multiple stressors such as pollution from anthropogenic activities. Dissecting the relative role of each ecological process involved in structuring biotic communities is fundamental in both theoretical and applied ecology. The ecological niche-based species sorting and stochastic dynamics-based dispersal are two major competing processes in determining community structure. Studies have reached a common realization on the environmental gradient-geographical scale relationship (EGGSR), resulting in species sorting over dispersal in determining community structure at large geographical scales where significant environmental gradients often exist. However, this relationship has been recently challenged at fine geographical scales when significant environmental gradients are formed by local anthropogenic activities. Here, we used three receiving rivers of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as the promising system to test the hypothesis that species sorting plays a dominant role over dispersal in structuring zooplankton communities at microgeographical scales (∼1.2 km). After WWTP effluent discharge, we consistently detected significant environmental changes in all three receiving rivers, leading to significant variation in both community structure and taxonomic co-occurrence networks. Variation partitioning showed that environmental variables explained higher proportions of community variation than spatial ones, supporting that species sorting played a dominant role over dispersal in structuring zooplankton communities. Thus, our findings here reject EGGSR, illustrating that the effect of species sorting has been overlooked in disturbed aquatic ecosystems at fine spatial scales. More importantly, all analyses in multiple rivers here validate the “microscale species sorting” hypothesis. The validation of such hypothesis provides a novel methodology for point source pollution management by assessing environment-community interactions and functional changes of biological communities. The differed variables underlying species sorting among three rivers illustrate that ecological management should be case-specific, with the full consideration of local water quality background and pollutant composition of each point pollution source.

Visual Media, Macro Photography, and Exponential Imagination: Scalar Views in Ecohumanism

This brief essay engages with environmental stewardship and scale in the Anthropocene. Taking inspiration from Kees Boeke’s illustrated children’s book Cosmic View: The Universe in 40 Jumps and Charles and Ray Eames’s Powers of Ten—a short film based on Boeke’s book—this photo essay illustrates how, through the production of eco-art, the practice of macro photography can suggest the presence of worlds within one’s world. Creative engagements are offered so that children and adults, who must all live through and contend with the Anthropocene, might appreciate notions of environmental scale, particularly in relation to our ecological footprints over time. In so doing, visual media such as illustrated books, films, and macro photography encourage sustainability on a larger scale than humanity has yet to imagine.

Prevention of the social isolation of older persons: the impact of community environmental satisfaction on social isolation.

To explore how to prevent the social isolation of the older adult, this study constructed a model of the influence of community environmental satisfaction on the social isolation of the older adult from the three dimensions of environmental facilities, transportation, and supporting facilities around the community. Methods: The social network scale and environmental satisfaction scale were used to collect the sample data of nine communities in Xi'an, and the maximum likelihood estimation method was used to analyze the data and test the model. (1) Environmental facilities, transportation, and community surrounding facilities promoted community environment satisfaction (R2 = 0.904). Among them, environmental facilities (β = 0.869) had the greatest impact on community environmental satisfaction, followed by transportation (β = 0.118), and surrounding facilities (β = 0.084) had the least impact on community environmental satisfaction. (2) Environmental satisfaction had a direct positive impact on social isolation. Among them, the impact of environmental satisfaction on friend isolation (R2 = 0.895, β = 0.829) was greater than that on family isolation (R2 = 0.718, β = 0.747). Environmental satisfaction can directly affect the social isolation of the older adult in the community and can be used as an intermediate variable of environmental facilities, transportation, and surrounding facilities in the community so that it can indirectly affect the social isolation of the older adult. The results of this study provide a scientific basis for the design of aging environments in the future.

The Effect of Augmented Reality Technology on Environmental Thinking, Environmental Behavior and Attitude toward Environment Variables in Science Lesson

The use of technology in science learning is quite common. One of these widely used technologies is Augmented reality (AR) technology. This research was purposed to examine the effectiveness of AR technology on students' attitudes, thinking, and behaviors toward the environment and to examine the relationship between these variables. The research will have a meaningful context in the literature as it supports raising individuals with positive behaviors, thinking, and attitudes toward the environment. The research process was arranged according to the quasi-experimental design's pre and post-test control group model. It was conducted with an experiment and a control group. While AR technology was used in the experimental group, it was applied to the existing program in the control group. The sample consisted of 53 participants in the 5th grade, which are 27 students in the Control group and 26 in the Experimental group. In the study, data was collected with the environmental attitude scale. MANOVA and correlation coefficient analyzed data collected in the context of research. The results showed that using AR positively contributes to secondary school students' attitudes, thinking, and behaviors toward the environment. In addition, it was determined that there were positive or negative relationships between some of the environmental attitudes, behavior, and thinking variables in the experimental and control groups. According to the research results, it is recommended to utilize AR technology in lessons to raise individuals who develop positive thinking, behaviors, and attitudes towards the environment within the context of secondary school science lessons.

Survey Validation for Measuring Perceptions of Work-Related Factors That Influence Career Paths of Men and Women in Academic Anesthesiology.

Women's underrepresentation in positions of leadership in medicine has been attributed to environmental, structural, motivational, and situational factors. The purpose of this study was to design and validate a survey instrument based on these constructs, using a sample of men and women anesthesiologists from 3 urban academic medical centers. Following institutional review board review, survey domains were defined based on a literature review. Items were developed, and content validation was performed by external experts. Anesthesiologists at 3 academic institutions were invited to complete the anonymous survey. Validation measures were performed on the collected responses, including reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity. In addition, differences between men and women respondents were evaluated. Content validation by external experts yielded 38 items with 5-point Likert scales, defining 3 constructs: environmental (14 items), structural (13 items), and motivational (11 items) factors, with single-item measures on situational factors. Content validity indices used Cohen's Kappa coefficients, with 0.85 as the acceptance cutoff. Two hundred seventy-four anesthesiologists in 3 academic institutions received the online survey. One hundred fifteen responses were received (42% response rate), yielding 103 complete survey responses, of which 86 cases included gender. Cronbach's α reliability estimates for the environmental, structural, and motivational scale scores were .88, .84, and .64, respectively, after scale revision. Evidence of convergent (Pearson's r = 0.68; P < .001) and discriminant validity (Pearson's r = 0.017; P = .84) confirmed theoretical expectations. Gender group differences showed statistically significant differences in perceptions toward environmental but not toward structural and motivational factors. The iterative design and validation processes yielded a 3-scale survey instrument with parsimonious item sets. The preliminary evidence of construct validity and reliability fills a gap in the instrumentation literature for assessing gender issues in medicine. Findings were consistent with theoretical expectations. Women are more likely than men to experience challenges in the work environment for career advancement. No differences were found between men and women on perceived resources and overall motivation factors. Investigations should continue with larger and more diverse samples and medical specialties.

Mind your actions: the place attachment - contextual factors nexus of environmental civic actions (ECA)

This paper examined the level of Environmental Civic Actions (ECA) using a modified version of the Environmental Action Scale (EAS) and Place Attachment Theory (PAT). The Environmental Action Scale measured the level of participation that would have a collective impact on environmental issues. The data was obtained via online questionnaire from 230 young and middle-aged citizens living in Nigeria. 152(66%) males and 75(33%) females indicated their gender, and most participants identified as under­graduate students (n = 179). SPSS statistical software package was used for factor analysis to ascertain if measure items were suitable for the study context using principal component analysis (extraction method) and Kaiser Normalization rotation method. Some findings revealed that the majority of participants have a high level of pro-environmental intention and low levels of actual environmental civic behav­iors. In addition, most participants never participated, organized a protest, or boycotted a company engaging in negative environ­mental behaviors. Furthermore, place attachment, and fear of punishment in form of fines, and levies influenced the intention to engage in positive environmental behavior. The study contrib­utes to the dearth of knowledge on environmental civic actions in a developing country and provides specific insights that are beneficial to policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders.

Group music therapy for people living with mental health conditions in the community: A pilot longitudinal quantitative micro-analysis study

ABSTRACT Introduction Music therapy has growing evidence for its effectiveness in mental health. People with mental health conditions often face significant barriers in obtaining personal valued social roles and feeling a sense of belonging to their community. Overcoming these barriers is an important step in the recovery process. This pilot study investigated whether long-term group music therapy might have an impact on participants’ social skill development, group cohesion and expression of emotional states. Method The study was an exploratory, retrospective, quantitative, longitudinal single-case study (N = 8). Five video recorded sessions were selected and micro-analyzed by independent raters, who rated the Group Environmental Scale (n = 8) and Individual Behavior Observation Categorization scale (n = 4). Statistical analysis was carried out to identify trends over time. The study was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04435405). Results A longitudinal improvement was found in the group domains of Relationship (1.6-fold), Personal growth (1.9-fold) and System maintenance (1.5-fold) along the 9-month follow-up period. On the individual level, an improvement was found over time in social skills and group cohesion (4.85-fold), affect (3.15-fold), and musical activities performances (19.9-fold). Discussion The study demonstrated longitudinal improvement trends in social skills, group cohesion and expression of emotional states (affect) in the group as a whole and in each of the four individual assessments. Future studies which will include a larger sample and longer follow-up periods are needed.

PENGARUH SENSE OF BELONGING TERHADAP KESADARAN LINGKUNGAN MASYARAKAT SEKITAR WISATA PANTAI TLANGOH KECAMATAN TANJUNG BUMI KABUPATEN BANGKALAN

This study aims to describe the influence of a sense of belonging to the environmental awareness of the community around Tlangoh Beach tourism, Tanjung Bumi District. This study uses a causality quantitative approach. The number of subjects in this study were 100 respondents who are the people around the Tlangoh Beach tourism area, Tanjung Bumi District, which were obtained through a quota sampling technique. The instruments used in this study are the sense of belonging scale based on the theory of Hagerty and Patusky (1995) and the environmental awareness scale based on the theory of Partanen-Hertell et al (1999) and developed by Kokkinen (2013). This study used a simple linear regression test analysis in which the results obtained showed that there was a sense of belonging to the environmental awareness of the community around Tlangoh Beach tourism, Tanjung Bumi District, in the strong category (r = 0.734; p &lt; 0.05). Meanwhile, the effective contribution of the sense of belonging variable to environmental awareness is 53.9% while the remaining 46.1% is influenced by other factors.

Evaluation of Nature Awareness in Secondary School Students by Nature Education Projects with A Case Study in Bursa, Türkiye

The importance of education given in primary and secondary education period is very important in raising new generations who respect nature and protect nature. In this study, the results of nature education in understanding biological and cultural diversity were evaluated with the example of a Nature Education Project, which was carried out in 2022 and supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) via 4004 Science Schools and Nature Education program for the students of the Regional Boarding School selected as the target group in the Protected Natural Areas of Bursa. The project aims to enable the students who will be the elders of the future living in Bursa and the teachers who will train the students to get to know the biodiversity and natural resources of Bursa by obtaining the information from the first source, by making observations and using the technology, to gain awareness of protection in order to ensure the sustainability of these resources, environmental pollution. It was carried out in order to enable students to establish strong bonds with nature by gaining awareness about nature. Within the scope of the project, the environmental perception scale and environmental attitude scale were applied to the participants as a pre-posttest in the project, and in addition to these tests, the natural science diaries kept during the project and the pictures they made about the activities were evaluated. The nonparametric Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used to determine whether there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test mean scores. At the end of the project, the target audience to establish a strong bond with nature, to recognize the factors that make up ecosystems, to gain awareness of protecting natural assets, to raise awareness about the limited nature of natural resources and to increase their awareness of environmental pollution and its effects, to transfer it to the society through social interaction after the project, to raise awareness, It has been observed that in the future, Bursa has gained awareness in the form of taking social responsibility in a way that will protect its values and developing by making use of ecotourism. Keywords: Nature Education; Regional Boarding School students; Biodiversity conservation; Protected areas; Türkiye DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-10-01 Publication date: April 30 th 2023

The Impact of COVID-19 Household Isolation on Conflict and Cohesion in One-, Two-, and Three-Generation Households With Older Adults

The current cross-sectional study examined the effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) household isolation on household conflict and cohesion in one-, two-, and three-generation households with older adults (aged ≥65 years). Participants were 757 adults (aged ≥18 years) with at least one older adult in their household. Respondents were from 51 countries. Study variables were measured with the COVID-19 Household Environmental Scale. Non-parametric tests were used to assess differences between groups. Most participants (n = 437, 57.7%) lived in three-generation homes. Three-generation homes reported greater increases in conflict (p < 0.001) and cohesion (p < 0.001) during household isolation compared to oneand two-generation homes. Findings suggest that older adults living in multigenerational households experienced more cohesive and conflictive household environments as a function of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further research should explore how family or health care interventions could better support older adults and families as a unit of care to avoid adverse outcomes and boost resilience. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 49(4), 47-56.].

Environmental Identities and Attitude towards Crude Oil Pipeline Vandalism in Niger Delta Oil-Producing Communities

Environmental identities and attitude towards oil pipeline vandalism in Niger Delta oil-producing communities were examined to show whether low environmental identity is associated with an environmentally destructive attitude, as well as how such issues may be connected with incidents of oil pipeline vandalism in the area. A survey of youths (N = 603) from selected oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta area was conducted. A subset of the sample participated in focus group discussions, and ten experts were interviewed. Socioeconomic and demographic factors of participants were also investigated, as they might be associated with environmental identities and attitudes. The study found that the youths who scored medium to high on the environmental identity scale are more likely to be pro-environmental. There was also a significant association between gender and environmental identity scores. Occupation, education, and income levels were also associated with attitude towards oil pipeline vandalism. However, there was no significant association between environmental identity and attitude towards oil pipeline vandalism. The strong associations between socioeconomic factors, environmental identity, and attitude towards pipeline vandalism suggest that improved socioeconomic status may help to curb oil pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta.

The Effect of Out-of-School Learning Activities on Gifted Students’ Affective and Behavioral Tendencies Towards The Environment

This study investigates the effect of out-of-school activities on gifted students' affective and behavioral tendencies. Mixed method research with a single group pre and post-test experimental design was used in this study. Twenty-five gifted students from Turkey-İstanbul participated in this study. “Environmental Affect Scale” and “Environmental Behavior Scale” were used, and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Results showed that out-of-school activities positively affected the students’ affective and behavioral tendencies toward the environment. It was also found that the awareness of students on environmental problems increased, and they began to produce their solutions to these problems.