Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, 316 Berkey Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824-1111, United States.
Soc Sci Res. 2012 Sep;41(5):1085-99. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.04.003. Epub 2012 Apr 17.
Environmental issues continue to grow in international prominence, as environmental conditions are recognized as some of the most important problems facing the world. Research examining this globalization of environmental concern shown in public opinion surveys emphasizes the importance of context yet is currently underspecified. To address this gap, this research uses a multi-level, cross-national study to examine individual-level and country-level influences on three measures of environmental concern: environmental threat awareness, environmental efficacy, and willingness to pay. At the individual level, education, age, and gender affect environmental concerns. At the national level, economic, political, and environmental factors affect environmental concerns. Importantly, contextual factors differ in their effects depending on the dimension of environmental concern measured. Results from cross-level interactions for education confirm these complexities across these measures, supporting a dimensionality argument. The importance of the measurement of environmental concern shown in this research is emphasized for future cross-national scholarship.
环境问题在国际上的重要性持续增加，因为人们认识到环境状况是世界面临的最重要问题之一。研究表明，公众舆论调查中对环境问题的这种全球化关注强调了背景的重要性，但目前对此的说明还不够具体。为了解决这一差距，本研究使用多层次、跨国研究来检验个体层面和国家层面因素对环境关注的三个衡量指标的影响：环境威胁意识、环境效能和支付意愿。在个体层面上，教育、年龄和性别影响环境关注。在国家层面上，经济、政治和环境因素影响环境关注。重要的是，背景因素对环境关注维度的影响方式不同。教育的跨层次交互作用的结果证实了这些措施的复杂性，支持了维度论点。本研究强调了在未来跨国学术研究中对环境关注衡量的重要性。
