The main aim of this thesis is to investigate the potential benefits of affiliation with nature on British and Greek secondary school students’ positive functioning, and the variations in relation to climate and geography conditions. Particular emphasis is given on the role of schools' environmental education programs and activities. Following the contemporary positive psychology theory, we have focused on two main well-being conceptualizations: (i) the hedonic (or so-called subjective well-being), i.e. life satisfaction/happiness, and (ii) the eudaimonic, i.e. personal growth/flourishing life. A wide range of objective and subjective indicators have been used to represent various environmental parameters. The subjective indicators include students’ perceptions about the surrounding environment, their experiential exposure to nature (participation in outdoor sports, excursions to nature, etc.), environmental attitudes, values and knowledge, while the objective indicators assess the local climate and geographical characteristics, such as average annual temperature, wind and precipitation, altitude, distance from sea, rural vs. urban areas, and local environmental conditions, such as air pollution, proximity to heavy industries and airports, and proximity to areas of outstanding natural beauty. The study employs a quantitative survey approach (paper and internet based) to collect cross-sectional data from various lower and upper secondary schools across the two countries. A sample of 3614 students (aged between 14 and 19 years old) from 94 Greek secondary schools and 527 students (aged between 12 and 19 years old) from 15 English secondary schools have been collected during the academic years 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. The statistical analysis is mainly based on OLS and ordered logistic regressions with clustered standard errors, to control for intraclass correlation among the respodents. The findings highlight the significant effect of connectedness with nature on subjective and eudaimonic well-being, and the beneficial role of environmental education in promoting overall life satisfaction, school satisfaction and eudaimonia, either directly or indirectly through the enhancement of connectedness with nature.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:587457 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Skianis, Vasileios |
| Publisher | London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/753/ |
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