Ecologic affinity of youths: connectedness to nature, environmental beliefs and future consequences about the Atlantic Forest
Forest beliefs. Relatedness with nature. Future consequences.
To understand environmental beliefs and how people are related and connected to nature allows us to infer whether they have a disposition to pro-environmental behaviors, care about environmental issues, and the future consequences of their actions on nature. Thus, this work investigates the ecological affinity profile of youths in relation to the Atlantic Forest, in order to understand the environmental beliefs of these youths, their connection to nature and how they perceive the future consequences of their actions. The field research was carried out with youth high school students in Eunápolis/Bahia State. Data collection included four scales: Inclusion of Nature in the Self, Connectedness to Nature, Scale of Consideration of Future Consequences, and Scale of Forest Values, in addition to a socioeconomic questionnaire. These scales were submitted to descriptive, inferential, exploratory factor analysis, and similarity structure analysis in SPSS, Factor, JASP and IRaMuTeQ softwares. A total of 326 youths who self-declared cis/trans men (N = 127, 39.1%), cis/trans women (N =187, 57.5%), and non-binary (N = 11, 3.4%) were included in the study. The psychometric instruments showed the following values: Inclusion of Nature in the Self: (M = 4.3; Dp = 1.55; s2 = 2.42); Nature Connection Scale (M = 45.57; SD = 7.55; s2 = 57.08); Future Consequences Consideration Scale: (CCF-Immediacy: M = 14.55; Dp = 4.70; s2 = 22.13; CCF-Future: M = 17.64; Dp = 3.26; s2 = 10, 66); Scale of Beliefs about the Forest (Ecocentric Beliefs: M = 13.32; Dp = 2.05; s2 = 4.21; Anthropocentric Beliefs: M = 11.62; Dp = 3.97; s2 = 15.76). The analysis of the instruments allows us to infer that, in relation to environmental beliefs about the Atlantic Forest, youths have more ecocentric beliefs than anthropocentric ones, they feel connected to nature both in the cognitive, affective, and experiential dimensions, and they are aware of their actions on the environment. The affinity of these youths about the Atlantic Forest is more homogeneous in the ecological affinity profile, in relation to the utilitarian profile. These youths recognize that the biome is threatened, and it is important due to its rich biodiversity and must be conserved.