Relacionamento ambiental e percepção de risco de desastres em crianças (10-12 anos) da cidade de Cascavel-PR

Abstract

The present study aimed to understand how children aged 10-12 years old get involved with the environment and how they perceive the different environmental risks. It also sought to analyze if there is a relationship between environmental satisfaction and environmental attitudes, to evaluate and compare how children perceive the risks of local disasters and other risks that affect the planet as a whole, as well as whether there are differences by sex with regard to environmental attitudes. The study used a mixed methodology, using as data collection techniques the questionnaire and the focus group. The following instruments were used in the quantitative study: the scale The 24 Risk Items of Slimak and Dietz (2006) reduced to 13 items; The Environmental Attitudes Scale for Children (Galli, 2014; Leeming & Dwyer 1995); The Children's Scale of Environmental Satisfaction (CSES) of Galli (2014), and an ad hoc scale that assessed the Perception of Disaster Risk Exposure (PDRE). The focus group has emphasized issues such as environmental problems, disaster risk perception, environmental satisfaction and environmental attitudes. 886 children participated in the quantitative study, of which 478 (54%) were female and 405 (46%) were males, with an average age of 10.66 years (SD = 0.62). Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and multivariate statistical techniques (factorial analysis, correlation, linear regression, t-test for independent and dependent samples), with the assistance of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, v. 23.0). Twenty-four students participated in the qualitative study, seven of them female and seventeen male, all of them students of the sixth grade of the public school in Cascavel-PR. Qualitative data were analyzed using the Content Analysis method. The results indicated that environmental attitudes influence the environmental satisfaction of children. In turn, the greater the perception of disaster risk, the lower the environmental satisfaction of the child. Female children had higher mean environmental attitudes when compared to males, and these differences were significant in the variables "Turn off water from the sink when brushing your teeth to save water" and "Close the refrigerator door while deciding what to catch". The study showed that children have higher averages in the perception about the importance of risks related to the global context than local and that this perception about the importance of global risks predicts environmental attitudes.