The Impact of Education on Environmental Attitudes

Abstract

The term “environmental attitudes” reflects one’s propensity (of either favorable or unfavorable) towards a given environmental cause in terms of beliefs or perceived values. Studies on environmental attitudes have gained numerous criticisms for not being theoretical exhaustive. Addressing that, this study systematically developed a comprehensive measurement model that addresses the multidimensionality of environmental attitudes. This study specifically assessed the validity and internal consistency of the proposed measurement model of environmental attitudes within the context of education for sustainability (EfS) using SEM-AMOS. This study also evaluated the utility of the proposed measurement model through the testing of measurement invariance across genders, nationalities, and courses among the undergraduates in Abu Dhabi. With respect to these specific objectives, this study successfully sampled 130 respondents using an online-based questionnaire survey. The instrument used in this study was adapted from the original items of Environmental Attitudes Inventory (EAI) (Milfont & Duckitt, 2010), with the considerations on both preservation and utilization as the higher-order dimensions of environmental attitudes. Following the analysis, the obtained results revealed a refined seven-factor model of EAI with 21 items, in which iv both convergent validity and discriminant validity were validated. The environmental attitudes demonstrated multidimensionality hierarchically, as demonstrated by the obtained results of the first-order, second-order, and the third-order models. Besides that, this study also found that the undergraduates of science and technology courses, compared to the social science courses, demonstrated higher propensity to preserve the environment. Conclusively, this study systematically explored the horizontal and vertical structures of environmental attitudes in the development of the proposed measurement model to assess the environmental attitudes. Nonetheless, this study revealed that pro environmental attitudes undergraduate students tend to be limited to certain group within the context of EfS, thus would incline to constrain the resolution of environmental problems. Thirdly, The confirmation of the relevance of human and perceived environmental threat according to culture-specific perspective in the formation and determination of environmental attitudes