Page No.281-294
Adrija Bhattacharyya and Mohua Chatterjee
Bethune College, Kolkata
The present study has attempted to compare environmental attitude and conservation
behaviour of a sample of higher education students in respect of their sex and level of
education. 242 students comprising 109 males and 133 females, 136 pursuing graduation
and 106 pursuing postgraduation courses in different colleges and universities of West
Bengal were selected as sample following purposive sampling technique. The Short
version of the Environmental Attitude Inventory by Milfont and Duckitt, and Pro-nature
Conservation Behaviour Scale by Barbett et al. were administered, along with a general
information schedule. Apart from the descriptive statistics, t-test was administered for
further statistical analysis of data. The results revealed that male and female students
differed significantly in some domains of environmental attitude, namely, enjoyment of
nature, environmental threat, personal conservation behaviour, human dominance over
nature, human utilization of nature, ecocentric concern and support for population growth
policies. Significant differences were also noted between undergraduate and postgraduate
students in the domains of environmental movement activism, environmental threat,
altering nature and ecocentric concern. Furthermore, male and female students differed
significantly in respect of pro-nature conservation behaviour and all its domains, namely,
organized social engagement, individual engagement, planting and wildlife. Significant
differences were also found between undergraduate and postgraduate students in all
the domains of pro-nature conservation behaviour, except planting