Environmental philosophy, threat and well-being

THESIS 7081This thesis represents a comprehensive attempt to address the dearth of research on relationships between environment and mental health. The aim is to present a novel theoretical and empirical investigation of the links between environmental values, perceived environmental quality and psychological well-being. Across seven chapters we have endeavoured to tell this story, by weaving together strands from the pertinent literature and unravelling meaning from responses to more than one thousand questionnaires. Multiple levels of design and analysis were employed to examine existing and new theoretical propositions. Survey methods were employed, in three separate studies, to collect cross-sectional and longitudinal data from young people attending academic institutions in Dublin. Sampling included convenience and matched group methods. Aspects of the third study involved field research on an experiential education program for ecology and enterprise. Following schematic representation of the constructs, factorial, and path modelling were employed to examine the nature of eco-wellness: the relationships between eco-philosophy, threat, and well-being

Toward Effective Evaluation of Environmental Education: Validity of the Children's Environmental Attitudes and Knowledge Scale Using Data From a Sample of Irish Adolescents

Evaluation of environmental education (EE) interventions is at an early stage of development. Within a quantitative paradigm, the authors examined the psychometric properties of the Children's Environmental Attitudes and Knowledge Scale (CHEAKS) with data from a sample of Irish adolescents (N = 338) participating in a repeated measures design. Results lend support to published findings that recommend the instrument as reliable and valid. Comparative analysis between these data and published figures from the United States indicates differences in the constituent elements tapped by the scale. These differences are explored and recommendations for further study are made

Environmental Risk to the Self: Factor analysis and development of sub-scales for the Environmental Appraisal Inventory (EAI) with an Irish sample

This paper expands the work on perception of risk to the Self from hazards in the environment by developing psychological aspects of ecological risk perception, which have received little attention to date. Responses from 159 university students to a 26-item scale of environmental hazard perception, an adaptation of Schmidt and Gifford's (1989) Environmental Appraisal Inventory (EAI), were factor analysed and a 20-item scale with three subscales was developed. The subscales represented techno-human, natural, and everyday-life hazards, and these are the first subscales to be developed on the EAI. Psychometric properties of the scales are discussed and cultural differences in hazard identification are addressed

Health care rights and responsibilities: a review of the European charter of patients' rights.

This review of the European Charter of Patients' Rights includes chapters on the different kinds of rights found in Irish law, strengths and weaknesses of a rights-based approach to health care, and analysis of the right to consent and patient autonomy from an ethical and legal perspective. The report also looks at the Charter in context of the Irish health care system. Includes conclusion and recommendations

Perceived environmental risk as a predictor of teenage motherhood in a British population

Previous studies have shown that strong relationships exist between deprived environments and teenage motherhood. However, such studies have predominantly identified deprivation using neighbourhood-wide measures of socio-economic status. Few studies of teenage parenthood have examined how individuals perceive their environment and the importance of this perception on reproductive behaviour and timing. Using data collected from a sample of women living the county of Gloucestershire, UK, this paper explores the predictive value of two methods of assessing the environment: (1) the structural component—deprivation at the neighbourhood level and (2) the individual’s subjective experience of her pre-pregnancy environment, when examining how the wider environmental context can influence the decision of becoming a teenage mother. The results indicate that a woman’s perception of her neighbourhood of residence at the time she conceived, her perceived environmental risk, may be a more discriminating predictor of teenage motherhood than deprivation measured by ward economic and deprivation indicators

Comparative optimism for environmental risks

The present research tested whether people display comparative optimism for environmental risks and the link between comparative optimism and pro-environmental activity. Study 1 found comparative optimism for water pollution, air pollution and nuclear energy in normal conditions, but not when participants were asked to think about pollution arising from a hypothetical accident. In Study 2, both environmental activists and nonactivists displayed comparative optimism for a list of 22 environmental risks. However, comparative optimism was not associated with self-reported pro-environmental behaviour. Instead, absolute perceived risk, ecological attitude and social value orientation were associated with behaviour. Furthermore, when controlling for group membership, the effect of absolute risk disappeared. These findings are used to address ways in which pro-environmental behaviour might be encouraged