Determination of Ecorecreative Attitudes of University Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the ecorecreative attitude levels of university students and to
examine these attitudes according to selected demographic variables. The study was conducted using a
quantitative research approach and was designed based on a cross-sectional survey model. The study was
conducted with a sample of 309 university students. The Ecorecreative Attitude Scale (EAS) was administered
as the data collection instrument. The scale consists of three subdimensions: affective attitude, cognitive
attitude, and behavioral attitude, and aims to measure the importance that participants attach to ecological
sustainability in their participation in recreational activities. In the data analysis process, the Cronbach Alpha
coefficient was calculated to determine the reliability of the measurement tool. Skewness and kurtosis values
were examined to evaluate the distributional characteristics of the data set. For the data set that met the
assumption of normal distribution, the Independent Samples t-test was used for comparisons between two
groups. According to the findings, when the subdimensions were examined, the highest mean score was
observed in the cognitive attitude dimension (M =3.66), while the lowest mean score was found in the
affective attitude dimension (M =3.34). It was determined that students who were members of university
nature sports clubs had significantly higher ecorecreative attitude scores in all subdimensions and in the total
scale score compared to those who were not members (for total score, t=2.767, p<0.05, d=0.33). Similarly,
students who evaluated their leisure actively had significantly higher ecorecreative attitude levels than those
who evaluated their leisure passively (for total score, t=3.362, p<0.05, d=0.43). In this context, increasing
nature-based recreational activities at universities and supporting student nature sports clubs are considered
important factors that may contribute to the development of students’ ecorecreational awareness.