气候变化领域集成服务门户

Identifying mechanisms that lead children to behave in a pro-environmental way is an important conceptual and practical concern. Empirical evidence suggests that contact with nature (CN) is positively associated with environmental behavior (EB). However, this relation is usually low to moderate suggesting the operation of other factors in this relation. This study focuses on outcome expectancy, defined as one's evaluation of whether an action can be effective in attaining a goal, as a possible moderator of the CN - EB relation. In addition, we explored if environmental attitudes explain the interaction between outcome expectancy and CN (i.e., mediated moderation). Data were collected from 413 children (M = 10 years). Results confirmed the predicted interaction of CN and outcome expectancy on ES. For children with low outcome expectancy, CN has a stronger association with EB. Furthermore, this interactive effect of CN and outcome expectancy on EB is mediated, at least in part, by environmental attitude.