Research investigating predictors of environmental behavior have generally not studied underlying cultural influences. This study addresses this concern. Culture, in the context of this paper, refers to the “social context, symbolic meanings, and communal history that support and perpetuate shared attitudes, knowledge, and values.”
Over 100 eighth-grade students participated in this study. The students lived on the island of Hawaiʻi, where both nature and culture tend to be vital for many of the people living there. Most of the students had lived in the area their entire lives and, thus, grew up surrounded by Native Hawaiian culture and community. Researchers worked with local Native Hawaiian community members to develop a survey which included items relating to students' connections with local culture and locally relevant environmental behaviors. The survey also included items addressing students' connectedness to nature and self-efficacy, both of which have been previously linked with environmental behavior. Homeroom teachers provided approximately 15 minutes of class time for students to complete the survey. The primary purpose of the survey was to determine how culture, when considered along with self-efficacy and connection to nature, might predict environmental attitudes and behavior.
Students with Native Hawaiian backgrounds were more likely than others to feel that the Hawaiian culture was relevant to their lives. Additionally, students reporting that the Hawaiian culture was relevant to their lives also scored higher on connectedness to nature, enhanced self-efficacy, and a greater likelihood of picking up trash (one of three environmental behaviors measures). Students with higher connection to nature scores were also more likely to report paying attention to moving clouds. Watching clouds is an example of a cultural and pro-environmental behavior reflective of Native Hawaiian ways of being in the world. This practice “combines mindful awareness of the environment with place-specific ecological knowledge.” Interestingly, greater cultural relevance was associated with greater self-efficacy; greater self-efficacy was associated with more cloud observation. Therefore, cultural relevance predicted the culturally-embedded practice of cloud observation only indirectly, through the influence of self-efficacy.
The results of this study confirm earlier research documenting a positive connection between connectedness to nature and self-efficacy with pro-environmental behaviors. What this study adds to the literature, however, is the understanding that culture and ethnicity can also play an important role in how individuals relate to the natural environment. This research, then, calls for a greater emphasis on cultural pluralism in environmental work.
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