Suchergebnisse

The growing collective consensus among the public is to possess environmental attitudes, as the majority consider themselves to be "environmentalists." However, does the public's environmental attitudes or concern translate into environmentally responsible behaviors? This study sought to verify among undergraduate students the level of environmentalism—the relation of environmental attitudes and responsible behaviors. College students were targeted because they will be the future custodians, planners, policy makers, and educators of the environment and its issues. Environmental attitudes were analyzed using the revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale, and behaviors were measured with the Environmentally Responsible Behavior Index. Overall, college students in this sample were sympathetic toward the environment, and they supported the NEP ideology. However, except for recycling, students were not very participative in various environmentally responsible behaviors. Additionally, consistent with previous studies, the attitude-behavior relations were weak or modest at best.

This research examined motivational factors of college students to volunteer in various capacities using the Volunteer Function Inventory. Volunteering characteristics, scope of volunteerism, volunteer segments, and type of contributions were investigated. In addition, constraints to participation based on the leisure constraint model were explored. Data were collected at a major university in the southeast United States. Results identified that the majority were involved in volunteerism in some capacity. Organizations that focused on human services were the most important type of organizations to volunteers. Families and teachers were responsible for introducing almost the majority to volunteerism. Also, more than half reported time as their most important contribution. The strongest motives were related to the values and understanding dimension which reflected helping others and expanding one's own perspective on an issue. Structural constraints were most likely to limit volunteerism. Several associations between motivations and constraints were further examined and discussed.