Environmental attitudes and behaviors among secondary students in Hong Kong

Abstract

Although researchers have identified correlations between specific attitudes and particular behaviors in the pro-environmental domain, the general relationship between young people's development of environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors is not well understood. Past research indicates that geographic context can play a role, while social factors such as age and gender can have a more significant impact on predicting attitudes and behaviors than formal education. Few studies have systematically examined the relationships between education and environmental attitudes and behaviors among youth in Hong Kong. This article reports the findings of a study comparing secondary school students' environmental attitudes and behaviors with age and related factors in 2 international schools and 2 government schools in Hong Kong. Students' attitudes and behaviors were compared based on school type (curriculum), while we additionally compared the significance of social factors and attitudes on students' behaviors. Attitudes were measured using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) and the NEP for Children (NEPC), the most commonly used, internationally standardized tools for investigating environmental attitudes and values of adults and young people for comparative purposes. We compared NEP/NEPC scores and student self-reported environmental behaviors using a short questionnaire. No significant differences were found in attitudes or behaviors based on school type. However we did observe a significant effect of gender and age on students' attitudes, and a significant correlation of student attitudes in the NEP with students' self-reports regarding air conditioning consumption. This study builds a foundation for cross-national studies and for evaluating the impact of curricula over time.

Secondary school students' views of climate change in Hong Kong

“…Local school students (NEP mean = 3.66) scored higher than international school students (NEP mean = 3.51). Students with a higher NEP score were significantly more likely to turn off their air conditioning when leaving the house (r 2 = 0.48; p = 0.049), echoing findings of our earlier study (Jackson et al, 2016).…”

“…Depending on the projects, student spend up to 500 hours throughout their 6 years in the IB Programme, learning CCE through hands-on projects (see Table 2). Kong local school secondary curricula has undergone a reform in 2009 that impacts CCE, it is imperative that a new and accurate assessment of CCE programs and curricula be done (Jackson et al, 2016;Zhu, Douglas, & Savelyeva, 2014).…”

“…Another study found that Chinese and Japanese secondary students were more likely to answer neutrally than Americans (Chen, Lee & Stevenson, 1995). Others suggest that local circumstances impact people's climate change attitudes (Jackson et al, 2016;Boeve-de Pauw, Donche, & Van Petegem, 2011;Liu & Constable, 2010). Gender has also been seen to be a factor related to climate change attitudes in many countries (World Bank, 2010; see also Hunter, Hatch, & Johnson, 2004;Jackson et al, 2016).…”

“…Others suggest that local circumstances impact people's climate change attitudes (Jackson et al, 2016;Boeve-de Pauw, Donche, & Van Petegem, 2011;Liu & Constable, 2010). Gender has also been seen to be a factor related to climate change attitudes in many countries (World Bank, 2010; see also Hunter, Hatch, & Johnson, 2004;Jackson et al, 2016). Each question in the survey was provided in Traditional Chinese and English to avoid any misunderstandings due to language barriers.…”

Aportes pedagógicos a la educación ambiental: una perspectiva teórica

“…Al respecto, Jackson et al (2016), manifiestan que para algunos investigadores existe una relación directa entre las actitudes y comportamiento medioambientales, mientras que para otros, dicha relación puede ser indirecta, ya que argumentan que el comportamiento medioambiental puede estar influenciado por otros factores como el contexto geográfico y cultural, así como también, por la juventud de los participantes en los estudios.…”