Pro-environmental behaviours and park visitors The effect of place attachment

The purpose of this study was to explore the ability of place attachment to predict place-specific and general pro-environment behavioural intentions The study sample (n = 355) consisted of visitors to a Canadian national park Point Pelee National Park The place attachment scale utilized in this study was designed to measure three subdimensions place identity place dependence and place affect Exploratory factor analysis of data measured by these scales revealed two place attachment subdimensions Place affect an individual s emotions and feelings for a place acted as a more generalized or pervasive phenomenon Place affect items loaded on both the place identity (an individual s cognitive assessment of a place) and place dependence (an individual s functional assessment of a place) Structural equation modeling confirmed the strength of place attachment s ability to predict place-related pro-environment intentions It also identified place attachment s prediction of pro-environment behavioural intensions related to everyday life Place identity mediated the effects of place dependence in predicting pro-environment intentions Further research which utilizes in-depth and longitudinal case studies is suggested to explore the role of place-specific emotion and feelings as well as place identity in fostering environmentally-responsible action as these factors are theorized to play an important role in promoting pro-environmental behaviour Studies of place attachment to everyday settings rather than iconic national parks are also called for (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved