Determination of attitude and knowledge in environmental behavior of citizens in Gorgan, northern Iran (2017)

  Environmental hazards are one of the most important threats to human health. The dramatic increase in population and new lifestyles has led to a variety of environmental problems and outbreaks of illness. This study was conducted to determine the attitude and knowledge in environmental behavior of citizens of Gorgan city, north of Iran. This descriptive-analytic study was carried out on 400 people (209 men and 191 women) in Gorgan citizens in northern Iran during 2017. A multi-stage sampling method was used to select the samples. The city of Gorgan was divided into 3 categories according to urban divisions, and the neighborhoods within the classes were considered as clusters. 40% of the neighborhoods were randomly assigned to each study. The instruments used for collecting data were demographic questionnaire and knowledge, attitude and environmental behavior questionnaires. The level of environmental attitudes and environmental knowledge of the citizens was poor and their Pro-environment behavior was highly valued. Persons with higher age, higher education and level of employment had better environmental behaviors (P<0.05). There was a significant and inverse relationship between environmental attitude and environmental behavior (P<0.05). Increasing
bio-environmental knowledge led to an increase in bio-environmental behavior (P<0.05). The level of knowledge and environmental attitude of Gorgan citizens was weak and their pro-environmental behaviors were strong.