ASERA56 Reid Lau Choi.pdf

International research suggests a significant pattern in adults’ conservation willingness: it is routinely shaped by childhood nature experiences and connectedness. However, such studies typically rely on datasets from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) settings. Moreover, willingness is seldom understood in terms of the effects of childhoods experienced in densely populated urbanized lifeworlds. To address these gaps, we have investigated human-nature relationships among children in Hong Kong. Study 1 conducted a survey-based cross-sectional study with 200 school students to examine how their experiences influenced pro-environmental and pro-biodiversity attitudes. Initial results indicate that nature connectedness, but not nature experience, is positively associated with pro-environmental beliefs. Higher affective attitudes towards biodiversity were also associated with live experience with wild animals, but not nature experience more broadly. Building on discrepancies observed in Study 1 concerning the particular species that produced variations in attitudes, a follow-up investigation, Study 2, has compared students’ affective attitudes (n=133) towards eleven species to understand factors that led to Study 1’s outcomes. Logistic regression found that live experience, knowledge, aesthetic appeal, and flagship species were significant predictors of positive affective attitudes. Findings from both studies highlight the importance of authentic experience in fostering biophilia among children into adulthood.