Determination of attitude and knowledge in environmental behavior of citizens in Gorgan, northern Iran (2017)

Abstract

Background and Objective: Environmental hazards are one of the most important threats to human health. The dramatic increase in population and new lifestyles has led to a variety of environmental problems and outbreaks of illness. This study was conducted to determine the attitude and knowledge in environmental behavior of citizens of Gorgan city, north of Iran. Methods: This descriptive-analytic study was carried out on 400 people (209 men and 191 women) in Gorgan citizens in northern Iran during 2017. A multi-stage sampling method was used to select the samples. The city of Gorgan was divided into 3 categories according to urban divisions, and the neighborhoods within the classes were considered as clusters. 40% of the neighborhoods were randomly assigned to each study. The instruments used for collecting data were demographic questionnaire and knowledge, attitude and environmental behavior questionnaires. Results: The level of environmental attitudes and environmental knowledge of the citizens was poor and their Pro-environment behavior was highly valued. Persons with higher age, higher education and level of employment had better environmental behaviors (P<0.05). There was a significant and inverse relationship between environmental attitude and environmental behavior (P<0.05). Increasing bio-environmental knowledge led to an increase in bio-environmental behavior (P<0.05). Conclusion: The level of knowledge and environmental attitude of Gorgan citizens was weak and their pro-environmental behaviors were strong.

Keywords

• Environment
• Knowledge
• Attitude
• Behavior
• Citizen
• Gorgan
• Iran