Exploring children’s contact with nature and pro-environmental behaviours in Beijing, China

Source abstract

Ongoing global environmental problems, including climate change and biodiversity loss, have emphasized the need to foster environmental awareness and pro-environmental actions in people. Childhood experiences with nature are believed to influence the formation of such attitudes and behaviours. However, rapid urbanization and lifestyle changes significantly limit children’s exposure to nature in cities, increasingly disconnecting them from nature. It is, therefore, crucial to understand how contact with nature develops among children growing up in urban settings and how this may predispose them to adopt pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours, especially in non-Western contexts. This study involved 81 children aged 8 to 12 years living in four central districts of Beijing, China. Children first participated in interviews to qualitatively investigate their environmental moral reasoning regarding nature and its protection. The same participants then completed a set of quantitative scales measuring their contact with nature, environmental knowledge, attitudes, and pro-environmental behaviours. The results revealed that most children expressed an anthropocentric view of protecting nature, emphasizing its utilitarian value for humans, particularly in relation to the collective interests of humanity. Regression analysis of the scale data revealed that contact with nature had both a direct effect on pro-environmental behaviours and an indirect effect mediated by environmental attitudes. In contrast, environmental knowledge was not found to be statistically significant. These findings highlight the importance of fostering children’s connection to nature in cities and can also inform environmental education and urban design and planning aimed at promoting more pro-environmental attitudes and actions among youth.