FACTORS AFFECTING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIORS

Year 2022, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 115 - 129, 28.12.2022

Doğukan Terzi Merve Kalmaç Sinem Cankardaş

Abstract

In the last half-century, it is seen that climate change has occurred much faster and more effectively, harming physiological and psychological health. However, efforts to persuade people to act environmentally are not sufficient to prevent human-induced climate change. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the effect of knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about climate change on environmental behavior. For this purpose, a total of 201 students who are continuing their education at a foundation university in Istanbul and willing to participate in the research were administered the Climate Change Related Psychological Distress Scale, Climate Change Self-Efficacy Scale (ISCO), Climate Change Belief Scale, Environmental Behavior Scale, Perceived Severity of the Climate Change and Demographic Information Form. As a result of the multiple linear regression analysis, it was seen that climate change education, psychological distress, and climate change self-efficacy significantly predicted environmental behavior. Among all variables, it was observed that the highest variance in environmental behavior was explained by education on climate change. In light of the findings of the study, it was thought that university students could be informed about climate change and what can be done to prevent it, so that students could behave environmentally.

Keywords

: climate change, environmental behavior, global warming, sustainable behavior, climate change belief, self-efficacy, distress

ÜNİVERSİTE ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN ÇEVRECİ DAVRANIŞLARINI ETKİLEYEN FAKTÖRLER

Abstract

Son yarım asırda iklim değişikliğinin çok daha hızlı ve etkili bir şekilde gerçekleşerek, fizyolojik ve psikolojik sağlığa zarar verdiği görülmektedir. Buna rağmen insan kaynaklı iklim değişikliğini engellemek için insanları çevreci davranış göstermeye ikna etme çabaları yeterli olmamaktadır. Bu çalışmada Türkiye’deki üniversite öğrencilerinin iklim değişikliği ile ilgili bilgi, tutum, inanışlarının çevreci davranışları üzerindeki etkisinin araştırılması amaçlanmıştır. Bu amaçla, İstanbul’da yer alan bir vakıf üniversitesinde eğitimlerine devam eden, araştırmaya katılmaya gönüllü toplam 201 öğrenciye İklim Değişikliğine İlişkin Psikolojik Sıkıntı Ölçeği, İklim Değişikliği Öz Yeterlilik Ölçeği (İDÖYÖ), İklim Değişikliği İnanç Ölçeği, Çevreci Davranış Ölçeği ve Demografik Bilgi Formu uygulanmıştır. Yapılan lineer çoklu regresyon analizi sonucunda, iklim değişikliği eğitimi, psikolojik sıkıntı, iklim değişikliği öz-yeterliliğinin çevreci davranışı anlamlı olarak yordadığı görülmüştür. Tüm değişkenler arasında çevreci davranışa ilişkin en fazla varyansın iklim değişikliği ile ilgili eğitim alma tarafından açıklandığı, bunu iklim değişikliği akla gelince deneyimlenen psikolojik sıkıntının takip ettiği görülmüştür. Çalışmada elde edilen bulgular ışığında üniversite öğrencilerinin iklim değişikliği ve bunu önlemeye yönelik yapılabilecekler hakkında bilgilendirilerek öğrencilerin çevreci davranış göstermelerinin sağlanabileceği düşünülmüştür.

Keywords

iklim değişikliği, çevreci davranış, küresel ısınma, sürdürülebilir davranış, iklim değişikliği inancı, öz-yeterlik, psikolojik sıkıntı

References

• Avrupa Komisyonu. (2010). AB Öncülüğünde İklim Değişikliği ile Mücadele. Brüksel: Avrupa Birliği Resmi Yayınlar Ofisi.
• Becker, L. (1978). Joint effect of feedback and goal setting on performance: A field study of residential energy conservation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 63(4), 428-433.
• Clayton, S., Manning, C., Krygsman, K., & Speiser, M. (2017). Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications, and Guidance, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association and ecoAmerica.
• Doran, P. T., & Zimmerman, M. K. (2009). Examining the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change. Earth & Space Science News (EOS), 3, 22-23.
• Frick, J., Kaiser, F. G., & Wilson, M. (2004). Environmental Knowledge and Conservation Behavior: Exploring Prevalence and Structure in a Representative Sample. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 1597-1613.
• Gifford, R. (2011). The Dragons of Inaction: Psychological Barriers That Limit Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption. American Psychologist, 66 (4), 290-302.
• Kantola, S. J., Syme, G. J., & Campbell, N. A. (1984). Cognitive dissonance and energy conservation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69 (3), 416-421.
• Kellstedt, P. M., Zahran, S., & Vedlitz, A. (2008). Personal efficacy, the information environment, and attitudes toward global warming and climate change in the United States. Risk Analysis, 28 (1), 113 -26.
• Kennedy, E.H., Beckley, T.M., McFarlane, B.L., Nadeau, S. (2009). Why we don’t walk the talk: understanding the environmental values/behaviour gap in Canada. Hum Ecol Rev ,16(2),151–60.
• Kollmuss, A. & Agyeman, J. (2002) Mind the Gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 239-260.
• Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., Smith N. (2010). Climate change in the American mind: Americans’ global warming beliefs and attitudes in January 2010. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.
• Lindsay, J. J., & Strathman, A. (1997). Predictors of Recycling Behavior: An Application of a Modified Health Belief Model. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27(20), 1799- 1823.
• Merziger, A., & Neumann, K. (2010). Energy Neighbourhoods-Bet to Win! The Climate Competition between Municipalities and Their Citizens. Berlin: Summary Report.
• Ojala, M. (2012) Hope and climate change: the importance of hope for environmental engagement among young people, Environmental Education Research, 18(5), 625-642,
• Overmier, J. B., & Seligman, M. E. (1967). Effects of inescapable shock upon subsequent escape and avoidance responding. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 63(1), 28–33.
• Poortinga, W., Steg, L., & Vlek, C. (2004). Values, environmental concern,and environmental behavior: A study into household energy use. Environment and Behavior, 36,70–93.
• Rainear, A.M., & Christensen, J.L. (2017). Protection Motivation Theory as an Explanatory Framework for Pro-Environmental Behavioral Intentions. Communication Research Reports, 34:3, 239-248. DOI: 10.1080/08824096.2017.1286472
• Salomon, E., Preston, J. L., & Tannenbaum, M. B. (2017). Climate Change Helplessnessand the (De)moralization of Individual Energy Behavior. Journal of Experimental Psychology:Applied, 23 (1),1 -14.
• Seligman, M. E., & Maier, S. F. (1967). Failure to escape traumatic shock. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 74(1), 1–9.
• Spence, A., Poortinga, W., & Pidgeon, N. (2012). The psychological distance of climate change. Risk Analysis: An International Journal, 32(6), 957-972.
• Staats, H. J., Wit, A. P., & Midden, C. Y. (1996). Communicating the Greenhouse Effect to the Public: Evaluation of a Mass Media Campaign from a Social Dilemma Perspective. Journal of Environmental Management (45), 189-203.
• Steg, L., Van den Berg, A. E., & De Groot, J. I. M. (2015). Environmental Psychology: An Introduction. (1st Ed.). Wiley- Blackwell, United Kingdom.
• Steimer, T. (2002). The biology of fear-and anxiety-related behaviors. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 4(3), 231.
• Stern, N. H., Peters, S., Bakhshi, V., Bowen, A., Cameron, C., Catovsky, S., ... & Garbett, S. L. (2006). Stern Review: The economics of climate change (Vol. 30, p. 2006). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Stevenson, K.T., Peterson, M.N., Bondell, H.D., Moore, S.E., & Carrier, S.J. (2014). Overcoming skepticism with education: interacting influences of worldview and climate change knowledge on perceived climate change risk among adolescents. Climatic Change 126, 293–304.
• Stocker, T. F., Qin, D., Plattner, G. K., Tignor, M., Allen, S. K., Boschung, J., ... & Midgley, P. M. (2013). Climate change 2013: The physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, 1535.
• Stoknes, P.E. (2015). What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming: Toward a New Psychology of Climate Action. Chelsea Green Publishing: U.K.
• Vicente-Molina, M.A., Fernández-Sáinz, A., Izagirre-Olaizola, J. (2013). Environmental knowledge and other variables affecting pro-environmental behaviour: comparison of university students from emerging and advanced countries. J Cleaner Prod, 61,130–8.
• Woodward, J. (2016). Yakından Tanıyın: İklim Değişimi. (Çev. D. Candaş). Tübitat Yayınları: Ankara.