Responsible Conservation Behavior to Reduce Environmental Threats to Health: A Cross-National Comparison of Mumbai, India, Melbourne Australia and Seattle US

It is important to investigate whether patterns of responsible environmental behaviors such as conservation behaviors and risk and protective factors that influence the development of these behaviors are cross-nationally similar. This study examined a sample of 1866 students in Grade 9 (age 15 years) drawn from schools in Mumbai, India. These students were compared to similar samples in Melbourne, Australia and Seattle in the US using the International Youth Development Study. Students were asked how often over the past 12 months they had “made a personal effort to care for the environment in your daily life (like recycled waste or reduced energy use)?” Engagement in these behaviors 10 or more times per year was used to indicate “conservation behavior”. Rates of conservation behavior for boys and for girls in Mumbai were similar to rates in Melbourne and Seattle. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine predictors of conservation behavior in the three samples. Low rates of conservation behavior were found in India. Children internationally have relatively low rates of engagement in conservation behaviors. There are similar cross-national predictors suggesting that efforts to increase conservation behaviors may be similar in different nations.