Visitation to Natural Areas on Campus and its Relation to Place Identity and Environmentally Responsible Behaviors

Abstract

This study examined college students’ visits to natural areas on campus and how these visits relate to place identity and environmentally responsible behaviors. The majority (76.5%) of the 115 participants visited the natural areas, and 55.7% of these students visited for a course requirement. Students who lived on campus, were younger, and majored in environmental studies, humanities, or arts made more frequent visits. Among those who had visited the natural areas (n = 88), place identity and environmental responsibility were related to visitation frequency, and were stronger for those who had visited for a course requirement. Place identity mediated the relationship between visiting for a course requirement and environmental behaviors, but did not mediate the impact of visitation frequency.

Keywords:

• environmentally responsible behavior
• outdoor recreation
• place identity

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author would like to thank Melissa Bailey for help developing the survey and Heather Ellis for proofreading and editing the manuscript.