We designed three studies to explore the effect of materialistic values on pro-environmental behavior among youth and the mediated role of nature connectedness between materialistic values and pro-environmental behavior. Through a self-report questionnaire survey and an experimental manipulation of materialistic values, we found that materialistic values negatively predicted pro-environmental behavior, and that nature connectedness played a mediating role. Further, we used natural contact strategies to control the level of nature connectedness, and found that the negative impact of high materialistic values (...) on pro-environment behavior decreased with the increase of nature connectedness, further supporting the mediating role of nature connectedness. These results may contribute to the design of strategies that effectively mitigate the negative effects of materialistic values on pro-environmental behavior. (shrink)

Contemporary epidemiological methods testing the associations between green space and psychological well-being treat all vegetation cover as equal. However, there is very good reason to expect that variations in ecological "quality" (number of species, integrity of ecological processes) may influence the link between access to green space and benefits to human health and well-being. We test the relationship between green space quality and restorative benefit in an inner city urban population in Bradford, UK. We selected 12 urban parks for study (...) where we carried out botanical and faunal surveys to quantify biodiversity and assessed the site facilities of the green space (cleanliness, provision of amenities). We also conducted 128 surveys with park users to quantify psychological restoration based on four self-reported measure of general restoration, attention-grabbing distractions, being away from everyday life, and site preference. We present three key results. First, there is a positive association between site facilities and biodiversity. Second, restorative benefit is predicted by biodiversity, which explained 43% of the variance in restorative benefit across the parks, with minimal input from other variables. Third, the benefits accrued through access to green space were unrelated to age, gender, and ethnic background. The results add to a small but growing body of evidence that emphasise the role of nature in contributing to the well-being of urban populations and, hence, the need to consider biodiversity in the design of landscapes that enhance multiple ecosystem services. (shrink)