Toward an understanding of wilderness participation

Abstract

Seventeen variables were used to explain differences in wilderness use or nonuse in samples of the general public and wilderness users from Illinois. The variables important in determining who will use wilderness are different from those that are important in influencing the amount of use among present users. Some traditional demographic variables have been found to be of lesser importance than some nondemographic variables.

Results from multivariate analysis indicate that of the 17 variables tested, sex had the greatest influence in determining both who uses wilderness and who intends to use wilderness in the future. The other standard socioeconomic variables of income, age, and occupation were of little importance, relative to the other variables used, in predicting who would use wilderness. Of the personality variables, only leisure values were important in distinguishing users from nonusers. The measures of wilderness values (approval, purism, and information) were important in determining who uses wilderness, but of little value in predicting the amount of wilderness use among users.

Conversely, the constraining variables of number of children and amount of vacation were more influential in estimating the amount of time spent in wilderness than who would use wilderness. Of the socioeconomic variables other than sex, only income and age were of some importance in influencing the amount of use. The personality variables tested showed little value in distinguishing between heavy and light users.

Key words:

• Wilderness
• wilderness use
• personality
• barriers
• wilderness values