AI Insight
This study of 768 Chinese university students found that exposure to restorative campus landscapes was associated with increased pro-environmental behavior, primarily through triggering feelings of awe, which then enhanced students' sense of connectedness to nature. The research identified both a direct relationship between campus landscape experience and pro-environmental behavior, and an indirect pathway mediated sequentially by awe and nature connectedness. Nature connectedness alone did not independently mediate this relationship, but functioned as part of the chain following awe.
Why it matters
The findings provide empirical evidence for designing campus environments that promote sustainability-oriented behavior among students. Universities can strategically incorporate restorative natural elements in campus planning to cultivate ecological awareness and environmental stewardship in future generations.
Understand the Science
BackgroundCultivating young people’s pro-environmental behavior has become a critical concern for sustainable development. Campus landscapes, as natural-cultural composite environments that university students encounter regularly, may relate to their ecological emotions and environmental behavior in important ways. However, the underlying psychological mechanisms remain insufficiently understood.ObjectiveDrawing on Attention Restoration Theory and self-transcendent emotion theory, this study constructs and tests a chain mediation model in which campus landscape scene experience is associated with pro-environmental behavior sequentially through awe and nature connectedness.MethodsA questionnaire survey was conducted with 768 university students at Hezhou University, a national AAA-rated scenic campus in Guangxi, China, from September to December 2025. Measures comprised the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS-11), the Awe Short Measure (Awe-SM), the Nature Relatedness scale (NR-6), and the Pro-environmental Behavior Scale (PEBS). Data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0 for descriptive statistics, common method bias tests, reliability and validity tests, structural equation modeling, and bootstrap mediation analysis, with gender, academic year, and frequency of nature contact included as control variables.Results(1) Campus landscape scene experience was positively associated with pro-environmental behavior (β = 0.487, p < 0.001). (2) Awe mediated the association between campus landscape scene experience and pro-environmental behavior [indirect effect = 0.361, 95% CI = (0.290, 0.432)]. (3) Nature connectedness did not independently mediate this association [indirect effect = 0.005, 95% CI = (−0.002, 0.014)]. (4) The chain mediation through awe and then nature connectedness was significant [indirect effect = 0.040, 95% CI = (0.017, 0.068)]. These patterns remained stable after including control variables.ConclusionCampus landscape scene experience is associated with university students’ pro-environmental behavior both directly and indirectly through an awe–nature connectedness chain pathway. The findings extend research on restorative environments and pro-environmental behavior and offer empirical guidance for ecological education and campus landscape design in higher education.