Growing evidence supports a link between children's contact with nature (CN) and their environmental behaviors (EB). The fact that this relationship is usually low to moderate suggests that other factors may play a role in the CN-EB relationship. This study examined the possible moderating role of outcome expectancy in the variability in the strength of this relationship. This study also explored if environmental attitudes explain the interaction between outcome expectancy and CN on EB. Outcome expectancy refers to a belief about the likelihood of a behavior leading to a specific outcome, such as personal recycling efforts helping the earth. While the concepts of outcome expectancy and self-efficacy are related, they are not the same. Self-efficacy refers to a belief about one's ability to successfully perform a behavior.
Four hundred and thirteen fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students from four public primary schools in Madrid, Spain participated in this study. All of the participating students completed Internet surveys focusing on their contact with nature, their environmental attitudes, their environmental behaviors, and their outcome expectancy. Parents of the participating children also provided information about their child's contact with nature. Four items on the student survey focused on outcome expectancy. These items were written as specifically as possible and designed to be easily understood by children (e.g., “When I recycle, I help protect plants and animals that live in the wild.”).
As expected, children's contact with nature (CN) was positively associated with their pro-environmental behaviors (EB). This association was moderated by the children's outcome expectancy; but, contrary to expectations, this moderating effect was negative. For children with low outcome expectancy, CN had a stronger association with EB than for children with high outcome expectancy. One possible explanation for this unexpected finding may be that children who already have a strong belief that they are capable of positively influencing the environment may have less of a need for nature contact to influence them to engage in pro-environmental behaviors. In other words, CN may prove less essential for children who have strong versus weak outcome expectancy. Findings from this study also indicated that environmental attitude (EA) influenced -- at least in part -- the interactive effect of CN and outcome expectancy on EB.
This study provides empirical evidence of outcome expectancy altering the strength of the connection between childhood experiences in nature and the development of pro-environmental behaviors. For environmental educators, this suggests the need to seek ways to enhance children's outcome expectancy for protecting the environment. They could, for example, emphasize how performing small tasks locally relates to specific desired outcomes. Environmental educators are also encouraged “to organize their programs outside in nature. This way children can benefit from the formal instruction of the program as well as from the direct experience of nature.” Another implication offered by the authors is for researchers to probe deeper into the psychological processes influencing pro-environmental behavior.
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