Science teachers' attitudes towards nuclear power plants and sustainable development and their sustainable consumption behaviors

This study examined science teachers' attitudes toward nuclear power plants and sustainable development, their sustainable consumption behaviors, gender differences in these variables, and relations among them. A quantitative research approach was adopted using survey and correlational designs. Data were collected via Google Forms from 270 science teachers (137 females, 133 males) working in public or private middle schools in Türkiye during the 2024-2025 academic year. To collect data, Personal Information Form, Attitude Towards Nuclear Power Plant Scale (positive attitude, negative attitude), Attitude Towards Sustainable Development Scale (environment, economy, society, education), and Sustainable Consumption Behavior Scale (environmental awareness, non-essential purchasing, saving, reusability) were used. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, MANOVA to determine the gender differences, and correlation analysis to examine the relations between variables. Findings indicated that science teachers' positive attitudes toward nuclear power plants (X̄=3.73) were high, while negative attitudes (X̄=3.39) were moderate. Participants' attitudes toward sustainable development were very high across all sub-dimensions: environment (X̄=4.57), economy (X̄=4.57), society (X̄=4.55) and education (X̄=4.64). Sustainable consumption behaviors were very high in saving (X̄=4.62), high in environmental awareness (X̄=3.69) and reusability (X̄=3.46), and low in non-essential purchasing (X̄=2.24). MANOVA results showed significant gender differences in attitudes towards nuclear power plants [Pillai's Trace = .242, F (2, 267) = 42.530, p<.05, η2=.242], with males having higher positive attitudes and females having higher negative attitudes. A gender difference was also found in attitudes towards sustainable development [Pillai's Trace = .131, F (4, 265) = 9.966, p<.05, η2 =.131], with females scoring higher in the environment, society, and education sub-dimensions. Additionally, a significant gender difference in sustainable consumption behavior [Pillai's Trace = .053, F (4, 265)= 3.730, p<.05, η2 =.053] favored females only in the environmental awareness sub-dimension. Correlation analysis revealed a strong negative relationship between positive and negative attitudes toward nuclear power plants (r= -.719). Positive attitude was negatively correlated with the environment (r= -.305) and society (r= -.229) sub-dimensions of the Attitudes Towards Sustainable Development Scale, whereas negative attitude was positively correlated with all sub-dimensions of the scale and with the environmental awareness (r= .234) and reusability (r= .258) sub-dimensions of the Sustainable Consumption Behavior Scale. Furthermore, sub-dimensions of the Attitudes Towards Sustainable Development Scale were ositively correlated with sustainable consumption behaviors, the environment sub-dimension was correlated with the saving (r= .160) sub-dimension, the economy sub-dimension was correlated with the environmental awareness (r= .219 ), society sub-dimension with environmental awareness (r= .444) and reusability (r= .334) sub-dimensions, and education with the environmental awareness (r= .295), saving (r= .331) and reusability (r= .167) sub-dimensions. Finally, non-essential purchasing was negatively correlated with other sustainable consumption behaviors. Türkiye's shift toward nuclear power plants to meet energy demands necessitates increasing science teachers' awareness of this issue. This study highlights a partial relationship between science teachers' attitudes toward nuclear energy and their understanding of sustainability. Therefore, educational programs covering the environmental, economic, and social aspects of energy policies are recommended to enhance teachers' awareness and support scientifically grounded attitudes on this issue.