Secondary school pupils of rural and urban residencies in Bavaria were
monitored with respect to their environmental perception by focusing
on factor analytic structures, this study surveys attitudinal and beha
vioural preferences. A total of about 2400 pupils aged between 11 and
16 years from two types of residential location responded to a paper-a
nd-pencil questionnaire and rated the items on a multiple-choice Liker
t-scale. Additionally, an 1100-pupil sample of suburban residency was
included in the study. The variables covering conservational attitudes
and attitudes towards exploitation of nature as well as reported envi
ronmental behaviour (environmental action and verbal commitment) were
taken from a previous study. The study yielded two main findings: firs
t, there were no differences between the responses of the three groups
, except on the dimension for ''Verbal Commitment'; the urban and subu
rban pupils professed a stronger verbal commitment to their environmen
t than did rural pupils. Second, rural pupils' self-reported verbal co
mmitment to their environment was significantly less than their self-r
eported environmental action; urban and suburban pupils do not differ
in their verbal commitment and their reported environmental action. Po
tential reasons for this discrepancy as well as consequences for educa
tional approaches are discussed. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.