Childhood Experiences Associated with Care for the Natural World: A Theoretical Framework for Empirical Results
By L. Chawla. Children, Youth and Environments, 2023
447 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Abstract:A growing literature shows that active care for the environment in adulthood is frequently associated with positive experiences of nature in childhood or adolescence, along with childhood role models who gave the natural world appreciative attention. This article offers a framework for understanding this finding, drawing on two bodies of theory: the ecological psychology of James Gibson, Eleanor Gibson and Edward Reed, and the attachment theories of John Bowlby and Donald Winnicott. It shows how these two bodies of theory complement each other, as interpersonal theories of attachment add an emotional dimension to the processes of encountering the world described by ecological psychologists. Based on a re-analysis of interviews with environmentalists in Norway and the United States, the article looks closely at remembered childhood interactions with influential role models.
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f4abda923401e9983e1f2da6ea290f5fef982ab6
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
- Sabirah Adams
- Sandra McClintic
- Shazly Savahl
- Judith Chen-Hsuan Cheng
- L. Chawla
- Karen H Petty
- M. Monroe
- Silvia Collado
Citations in the corpus
- Exploring Early Childhood Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices About Preschool Outdoor Play: A Qualitative Study (2015, background): “It is important to be aware of the significance of childhood outdoor experiences and how they relate to individual development and outdoor behaviors (Chawla, 1999, 2007).”
- Growing Up Green : Becoming an Agent of Care for the Natural World (2009, background): “Later narratives may elaborate the meaning of animals, plants, rocks, and rivers, but according to the research on significant life experiences that Chawla (2007) reviews, they build on these direct encounters.”
- Nature as children's space: A systematic review (2017, background): “As noted by Chawla (2007), much of the research concerning children’s environmental perceptions in the late 1980s was retrospective—research on the significant life experiences of adults drawn from their childhoods.”
- Connection to Nature (2012, background): “This also validates previous studies that experiences in nature positively influence environmental attitudes and behavior (Chawla, 1998, 2007; Wells & Lekies, 2006).”