Environmental awareness and behavior: A study on Amasya Faculty of Education students

Environmental issues have been ongoing problems since the very beginning of humanity. These problems, which negatively affect the life of living beings, are generally caused by humans and their activities. A reduction in environmental problems will only be observed when people begin to act with consideration for themselves, future generations, and other living creatures in nature while shaping their behavior. Due to the negative impacts on human health, environmental issues have begun to receive the necessary attention. The increasing number of studies on environmental issues in recent times supports this situation. Environmental problems are global issues that concern the entire world. Numerous national and local studies have been conducted in this area. The current study was conducted specifically in the province of Amasya, addressing the issue of environmental problems. The aim of this study is to examine the environmental behaviors and affective tendencies of pre-service teachers studying in the faculty of education. The survey model, one of the quantitative research designs, was employed. The study group consisted of 201 pre-service teachers enrolled in the faculty of education at Amasya University during the fall semester of the 2024–2025 academic year. The "Affective Tendencies Toward the Environment Scale" and the "Environmental Behavior Scale" were used as data collection tools in the study. For data analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used for construct validity, one-way ANOVA for sections requiring multiple comparisons, and independent samples t-test for comparing independent groups. According to the findings obtained from the affective tendencies toward the environment scale, no statistically significant difference was observed among candidates in terms of age variable. In terms of gender, a statistically significant difference was found in favor of female candidates. Regarding the department variable, significant differences were identified among departments. No statistically significant differences were found based on grade level, environmental course attendance, mother's education level, father's education level, or the longest place of residence. A statistically significant difference was found in favor of the "I am a member" option in the civil society organization membership variable. Similarly, no significant difference was found regarding the frequency of participation in environmental activities. According to the findings obtained from the environmental behavior scale, no statistically significant difference was found in terms of age. However, a statistically significant difference was again observed in favor of female candidates in terms of gender. Statistically significant differences were also observed regarding the department and grade level variables. No statistically significant difference was found in terms of taking an environmental course. A statistically significant difference was found in favor of the "I am a member" option in terms of membership in environmental organizations. No statistically significant difference was found in terms of mother's education level. However, a statistically significant difference was found in terms of father's education level. No statistically significant difference was observed regarding the longest place of residence. In terms of frequency of participation in environmental activities, a statistically significant difference was found between the "never participated" and "frequently participated" responses. Based on the average scores obtained from both the affective tendencies and environmental behavior scales, a statistically significant relationship was found between the two scales.