Investigating the Relationship between the Educational Level and Environmental Awareness, Attitude and Behavior (Case Study: District 6 of Tehran)

Although formal education is one of the main ways to transfer knowledge, the degree of success of any type of education depends to the extent to which this knowledge is transformed to the proper personal and social behaviors. This is more obvious about environmental behaviors because such behaviors don’t have direct benefits for the citizens. It is assumed that people, who are highly educated, tend to have a better environmental knowledge with leads to more environmentally responsible behaviors. However the relationship between the educational level and the elements forming environmental awareness needs more accurate investigations. In this research, this relationship regarding the issue of air pollution is investigated. The statistical society consists of the dwellers and constant patrons of the district 6 of Tehran. Data collection involves a questionnaire aimed at assessing the environmental knowledge, attitude and behaviors of the respondents. The results indicate that the educational level is a little more than average, the attitude is below average and the behavioral level is above average. Also, the relationship between the educational level and the components of environmental awareness exists only in the behavioral dimension.