title: Marine litter education boosts children's understanding and self-reported actions.
abstract: Marine litter is a significant environmental problem inherently linked to individuals' purchasing, use and disposal behaviour. This research examined 176 British schoolchildren's (aged 8-13 years) baseline marine litter understanding and self-reported actions, and tested the impact of an educational intervention. All children participated in the educational intervention and completed a pre- and post-intervention questionnaire. At baseline, children were quite concerned about marine litter and recognised some of the causes and impacts of the problem. Children also reported taking a number of actions to help solve the problem. After the intervention, children were significantly more concerned, had a better understanding of the causes and negative impacts, and reported engaging in more actions to reduce the potential causes of marine litter. Understanding the perceptions and behaviours of children is crucial as they represent current and future actors and a potentially important source of social influence among their peers, parents and community.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK. Electronic address: bonny.hartley@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bonny L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Hartley
authors.affiliation: School of Marine Science and Engineering, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK.
authors.forename: Richard C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pahl
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012574:Schools; D057566:Self Report; D012938:Social Perception; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control*
keywords: Children; Education; Environment; Marine debris; Perception