Investigation of 7th and 8th Grade Middle School Students’ Environmental Ethics Attitude Levels in Relation to Different Variables

One way to increase people’s positive behaviors toward nature is to ensure that students gain environmental ethics attitude concerning environmental issues. In this regard, the current study investigates the 7th and 8th-grade students’ environmental ethics attitude levels in relation to some variables (grade level, gender, school type). The study employed the survey model, one of the quantitative methods. The current research’s sampling was selected using the stratified sampling method. A total of 723 students (349 seventh graders and 374 eighth graders) attending middle school participated in the current study. The “Environmental Ethics Attitude Scale” was used as a data collection tool in this research. The findings of the current study have revealed that the 7th and 8th-grade students’ environmental ethics attitude levels vary significantly depending on gender in favor of the female students (U(142857) = 560.34; p < 0.001). Moreover, no statistically significant difference was found between the environmental ethics attitude levels of the 7th graders and 8th graders (U(124827) = 63752.00; p > 0.05). In addition, no statistically significant difference was found between the environmental ethics attitude level of the students attending schools located in peripheral districts of the city and that of the students attending schools located in the central districts of the city (U(191838)) = 48993; p > 0.05). The seventh-grade and eighth-grade students’ eccentric environmental ethics attitude mean score and anthropocentric environmental ethics attitude mean score were very close to each other. This shows that the students have environmental ethics attitude yet cannot give up anthropocentric behaviors. Similar studies can be conducted with students from different grade levels