Factors Influencing Adults' Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors and the Role of Environmental Schools in Influencing Their Communities

Efrat Eilam, Tamar Trop

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The present study revisits a subfield of environmental education: significant life experiences, which studies the influences that shape the development of environmental stewardship. In the present study, we examine the effect of various formative experiences on a group of adults and analyze the role of school, as a formative influence on the parents of the students. By employing factor analysis, we were able to differentiate between groups of variables influencing attitudes and those influencing behavior. Cluster analysis enabled us to differentiate between types of respondents in accordance to their responsiveness to influencing experiences. The results draw attention to (a) the different pathways by which environmental attitudes and behaviors are influenced; (b) the important role of the inner self ("personality") in organizing and giving meaning to all other formative influences; and (c) the effectiveness of environmental schools in urban communities in Israel, in influencing the behavior of students' parents.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)234-263
Number of pages30
JournalEducation and Urban Society
Volume46
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • environmental education influence
  • environmental influence on adults
  • formative environmental influence
  • schools' influence on communities
  • significant life experiences

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • Urban Studies

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