ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Environmental Psychology
The Role of Nature Relatedness on Environmental Ethics Awareness and Environmental Behavior Among Young Adults: A Moderated Mediation Model of Environmental Organization Membership
Provisionally accepted
- 1Siirt Universitesi, Siirt, Türkiye
- 2Sirnak Universitesi, Şırnak, Türkiye
- 3İnönü University, Malatya, Türkiye
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Objectives: This study seeks to clarify the role of environmental ethics awareness as a mediator and environmental organization membership as a moderator in the relationship between nature relatedness and environmental behavior among young adults. Methods: The participants consist of 693 young adults (Mage = 22.45 ± 4.37, 60.8% were female). We collected data using a personal information form, the Environmental Ethics Awareness Scale, the Nature Relatedness Scale, and Environmental Behavior Scale. We examined relationships among variables using Pearson's correlation and moderated mediation analysis using Hayes's bootstrapping. Results: The correlation analyses revealed positive relationships between nature relatedness, environmental ethics awareness, environmental behavior, and environmental organization membership. Environmental ethics awareness mediates the correlation between nature relatedness and environmental behavior. The mediational relationship was further conditioned by environmental organization membership. Conclusions: The findings highlight how both personal connection to nature and ethical awareness are related to environmental behavior, with these associations being more pronounced among organization members.
Keywords: Environmental behavior, environmental ethics awareness, environmental organization membership, Nature relatedness, young adulthood
Received: 19 Nov 2025; Accepted: 28 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Aktu, Yelbogan and BOLUKBASI. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Selman BOLUKBASI
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