Environmental attitude-behavior correspondence between different types of forest recreationists

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the association of participation in outdoor recreation activities and the environmental attitude-behavior correspondence among forest recreationists. Environmental attitudes were operationalized with the revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale, and behaviors were operationalized using a series of proenvironmental behaviors that were derived from the literature. Outdoor recreation participation represented the respondents' most important activity. Data were collected at Bald Eagle State Forest, located in central Pennsylvania from June 12^th 1999- March 11^th, 2000. Bivariate correlations (Pearson's r) between attitudes and behaviors for appreciative, consumptive and motorized activities were conducted. Those involved with motorized activities showed the highest attitude-behavior contingency for ecocentric, and the lowest for technocentric attitudes. Those involved with appreciative activities generally had higher attitude-behavior consistency than those involved with consumptive activities for all three attitudinal indexes.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the 2000 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium

Citation

Thapa, Brijesh; Graefe, Alan R. 2001. Environmental attitude-behavior correspondence between different types of forest recreationists. In: Kyle, Gerard, comp., ed. 2001. Proceedings of the 2000 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-276. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 20-27