Chapter La relazione tra la Connessione con la Natura e i Comportamenti Pro-Ambientali: una revisione sistematica PRISMA

Abstract

This systematic literature review examines the relationship between Connectedness to Nature (CN) and Pro-Environmental Behaviors (PEB). Considering the worsening climate change and the current climate emergency, pro-environmental behavior has gained significant attention in the literature. PEBs aim to minimize negative impacts and maximize positive impacts on the environment. Researchers have focused on connectedness to nature as a potential driver of pro-environmental behavior. However, there is no universally agreed definition of this construct, which can be understood as a profound connection with nature. The review of the literature was carried out by the PRISMA method (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis). To access the literature we consulted Google Scholar, PubMed, Sociological Abstracts, PsycArticles, PsycInfo, Science Direct, and Academic Search Complete databases, inserting as keywords: "connectedness to nature" and "pro-environmental behavior". The search returned 2,280 results after duplicate removal. Of these 2,280 total results only 29 articles were selected based on the following inclusion criteria: (1) indexed articles on the selected databases (2) publication date until July 2022, (3) empirical study, (4) published in journals, conference proceedings, or as a Master’s degree or Doctoral thesis, (5) written in English or Italian, (6) Two keywords had to be present in the abstract: "connectedness to nature" and "pro-environmental behavior", (7) the studies had to evaluate the relationship between connectedness to nature and pro-environmental behavior. The reported results have clearly shown the presence of a significant and positive relationship between CN and PEB, however with great variability. On average, individual PEBs were more strongly associated with CN than activism PEBs.