A Comparative Study of Differences in Environmental Awareness and Attitude between Korean and American College Students

한.미 대학생의 환경 인식 및 태도에 대한 비교 연구

Despite the perceived significance of cross-cultural studies in environmental education, only few of this kind have been conducted in Korea because of several barriers such as additional communicative, fanancial and administrative efforts. This cross-cultural study was conducted to examine if there were any significant differences in environmental awareness and attitude toward current environmental issues. The results revealed that the American subjects appeared to be more concerned with environmental issues, have higher willingness to act, and have more internalized Locus of Control than the Korean subjects. Similar observations have been reported by Horsley's(1984) study that compared environmental attitudes among students from 10 different countries. This study, however, suggested possibility of alternative interpretations of the results from the perspective of social- and cultural pscyhology.