Parents’ environmental knowledge and perception of young children’s nature connectedness: The serial mediating role of parents’ environmental concern and parent–child engagement

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between parents’ environmental knowledge and 3- to 6-year-old children’s nature connectedness, and the mediating role of parents’ environmental concern and parent–child engagement in that relationship. Participants were 427 parents from rural western China (female = 51.99%; mean age = 30.87 years, SD = 6.81 years). The parents completed the following surveys: Connectedness to Nature Index for Parents of Pre-school Children (CNI-PPC), Chinese version of the Environmental Knowledge Scale (CEKS), Chinese version of the New Environmental Paradigm (CNEP), and Parent–Child Engagement Scale (PCES). Using structural equation modelling and the bootstrap method, the results revealed that higher parents’ environmental knowledge was associated with increased parent-rated children’s nature connectedness. Parents’ environmental concern and parent–child engagement independently mediated the relationship between parents’ environmental knowledge and parents’ perceived nature connectedness of their children. Additionally, parents’ environmental concern and parent–child engagement had a serial mediation effect on that relationship, contributing to increased parent-rated children’s nature connectedness. These findings highlight the importance of considering parents’ environmental knowledge, environmental concern, and parent–child engagement to strengthen children’s nature connectedness. The implication of this study is that environmental education programs should target parents in addition to children, as parents’ environmental knowledge, concern, and engagement are vital to the development of their children's nature connectedness.

Keywords:

• environmental concern
• environmental knowledge
• nature connectedness
• parent–child engagement
• parents
• three- to six-year-old children

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Nanjing Normal University, in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent

The researcher sought and gained the consent of the participants to take part in the study. Out of the 427 sampled participants, all 427 accepted and voluntarily participated in the study after the researcher assured them of anonymity and that their responses were solely for academic purposes.