The relationships among adult sustainability attitudes, psychological well-being, nature relatedness, and interest in scientific issues

Validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the sustainability consciousness questionnaire

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) are required to be achieved by 2030, and measurement indicators are needed to properly visualize individual efforts toward SDGs. Here, we developed a Japanese version of the Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire (SCQ), the most well-known individual measure of SDGs, and examined its reliability and validity. Three online surveys were conducted with 1,268 Japanese adults. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the Japanese version of the SCQ consists of two single-level factors: sustainability knowingness/attitude and sustainability behavior. These two factors demonstrated sufficient internal consistency by Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega coefficient, which ensured measurement reliability. Additionally, cocorrelations with other scales indicated that the higher the level of sustainability knowledge and attitude, the less positive attitude toward climate change and the higher the level of sustainability behavior, indicating the construct validity of these factors. These results indicate that the Japanese version of the SCQ is reliable and valid.

Exploring the relationships of citizens' scientific interest and self-understanding to their learning enjoyment and self-efficacy in science

The aim of this study was to explore whether citizens' scientific interest and self-understanding relate to their learning enjoyment and self-efficacy in science. The sample participants consisted of 1,657 Taiwanese citizens ranging from 18 to 70 years of age. All participants were asked to complete the 2018 "Taiwan Citizens Science and Technology Literacy Survey" to assess their scientific interest, scientific self-understanding, science learning enjoyment, and scientific self-efficacy. Multiple regression models were used to analyze the data. The important findings included: (1) scientific interest was the most important predictor of science learning enjoyment, while scientific self-understanding was the most important predictor of scientific self-efficacy; and (2) the effects of scientific interest on self-understanding and the effect of science learning enjoyment on scientific self-efficacy each were significantly moderated by respondents' age, with stronger relationships observed in younger citizens than older citizens. This study provides insight into Taiwanese citizens' scientific learning enjoyment and self-efficacy and also informs potential governmental policies and/or societal practices that could be considered to promote scientific literacy.

Toward Environmental Sustainability, Health, and Equity: How the Psychological Characteristics of College Students Are Reflected in Understanding Sustainable Development Goals

This study aimed to identify how the psychological characteristics of college students are reflected in understanding sustainable development goals (SDGs) by examining college students' psychological characteristics, including attitude, interests, motivations, and self-efficacy, through the Sustainable Development Goals Psychological Inventory (SDGPI). The relationships among SDGs attitude, SDGs interest, SDGs motivation, and SDGs self-efficacy were analyzed by Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients. In addition, the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance were used to explore the differences among the college student groups in terms of gender, grade, and major in relation to attitude and personal characteristics. Attitude scores based on regression analysis were used to predict college students' interest, motivation, and self-efficacy in relation to the SDGs. According to the results, (a) the college students considered the three most important SDGs to be good health and well-being (SDG 3) (49.72%), quality education (SDG 4) (41.39%), and no poverty (SDG 1) (32.22%), while the three least important SDGs were decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) (41.11%), partnerships for the goals (SDG 17) (38.06%), and response consumption and institutions (SDG 12) (30.83%); (b) the SDGPI had a high reliability, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.942; (c) there was a significant positive correlation between attitude and the variables of interest, motivation, and self-efficacy; (d) differences in attitudes, interest, and motivation between men and women were distinct and women scored much higher in these three subscales than men; (e) attitude could explain significant variance in interest, motivation and self-efficacy. In addition, attitude, interest, and motivation could account for self-efficacy. This study supports the development of sustainability education (SE) at the college level by providing new insights into college students' psychological characteristics in relation to the SDGs.

Health, Wellness, and Place Attachment During and Post Health Pandemics

Therapeutic landscapes encapsulate healing and recovery notions in natural and built environmental settings. Tourists’ perceptions determine their decision making of health and wellness tourism consumption. Researchers struggle with the conceptualization of the term ‘therapeutic landscapes’ across disciplines. Drawing on extant literature searched in nine databases, this scoping review identifies different dimensions of therapeutic landscapes. Out of identified 178 literature sources, 124 met the inclusion criteria of identified keywords. We review the contribution and the potential of environmental psychology in understanding tourist behavior to promote health and wellness tourism destinations in a post COVID-19 context. We develop and propose a conceptual framework comprising: (1) perceived goodness of therapeutic landscapes, (2) health and wellness consumption, (3) COVID-19 pandemic perceived health and wellness risk, (4) place attachment, and (5) re-visitation. We propose measurement scales and discuss implications and major issues in the immediate and post the COVID-19 pandemic to inform future research.