Factors Affecting Villagers, Environmental Behaviors (Case study: Central District of Ardabil County)

Today, rural areas in the country are facing challenges such as environmental pollutio, water and soil erosion, outbreak of new plant pests and diseases, malnutrition and other diseases in humans, decreasing the food quality, Extinction of some animal species due to environment pollution. Regarding the fact that the rural people deal directly and in different ways with the inputs that pollute the environment and also the important role of their behavior in environment pollution, this research is seeking to investigate the factors affecting the environmental behavior of rural people in the central district of Ardabil county.  The statistical population of this research included the rural people of the central district of Ardabil county. The sample size was determined using Cochran's formula and a total of 200 people were selected as the sample. Research instrument for collecting data was a Questionnaire that its validity was confirmed by a panel of university teachers and Reliability of the instrument was calculated through Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Data analysis of the Research was done using descriptive and inferential statistics methods. Data were analyzed using SPSSV 22 and Smart PLS 2 software. According to the results of this research 52 percent of the studied people had a negative and relatively negative attitude towards environmental protection. The findings of structural equation model indicated that variables of attitude, concern, knowledge and values can explain the changes in environmental behavior of the studied people up to 79 percent.  Besides, 52 percent of the changes of the variance of environmental concern are related to the variables of environmental values, knowledge and attitude.