Factors Influencing Children's Environmental Attitudes

In a study of 72 6th-grade students, it was found that ecologistic and moralistic attitudes toward the environment correlated with talking about the environment at home, watching nature films, and reading about the environment. There were no gender differences in ecologistic attitude, but girls showed higher moralistic attitude scores. A week-long Sunship Earth program at a residential camp did not produce any measurable differences in ecologistic or moralistic attitudes. Results suggest that the students entered the camp program with moderate levels of these attitudes, derived from several influences, including family, media, and previous school-based environmental education programs.