A Study On The Relationship Between Place Attachment And Pro-Environmental Behavior Intentions Of Aquatic Sports Participants

At present,the simultaneous promotion of the construction of material civilisation and ecological civilisation is one of the important features of building socialist modernisation in China.Developing green sports and balancing the relationship between sports and the ecological environment have become the key elements of China’s sports development work.With the rapid and healthy development of the national economy,people’s enthusiasm for outdoor sports is at an all-time high,and the development of outdoor sports industries such as aquatic sports,cycling and camping has ushered in opportunities.Supported by policy dividends again,the development of China’s aquatic sports industry is on the fast track.At the same time,it faces problems such as the growth in demand foraquatic sports and the depletion and exhaustion of natural ecological resources.Aquatic sports participants,as subjects directly connected to the natural environment,can be both protectors and polluters of the environment.As such,aquatic sports participants play an important role in promoting the sustainable development of natural ecological resources.On this basis,this study uses aquatic sports as a research context based on local attachment theory and value-belief-norm theory,and attempts to construct a theoretical model and address the following questions:(1)Can aquatic sports participants’ local attachment influence pro-environmental behavior intentions?(2)What are the specific mechanisms by which aquatic sports participants’ local attachment influences pro-environmental behavior intentions?(3)Does the effect of aquatic sports participants’ place attachment on pro-environmental behavior intentions differ according to the frequency of participation?(4)What role does aquatic sports play in developing participants’ place attachment and promoting pro-environmental behavioural intentions?A total of 455 valid questionnaires were collected from participants who visited Dianshan Lake for aquatic sports.The study used SPSS 26.0 to conduct descriptive statistical analysis,factor analysis and correlation tests on the data,and AMOS 24.0 to conduct validated factor analysis,path analysis and multi-group analysis on the data,to examine the specific mechanisms by which place attachment affects pro-environmental behavior intentions,to test the mediating effect of place identity,to examine differences in the effect of place attachment on pro-environmental behavior intentions when frequency of involvement is used as a grouping variable,and to test the mediating effect of place identity.It was found that(1)aquatic sports could foster participants’ place attachment to specific places and promote pro-environmental behavior intentions;(2)participants’ place attachment could significantly influence place identity but was not affected by participation frequency;(3)aquatic sports participation frequency could strengthen the effect of participants’ place identity on pro-environmental behavior intentions in general;(4)aquatic sports participation frequency helped to enhance participants’ place identity in mediating the role of place dependence on pro-environmental behavior intentions.Finally,based on the results of the data analysis and the literature,the study makes the following recommendations:firstly,creates a aquatic sports card with local characteristics to deepen participants’ local attachment;secondly,optimises the water sports service system to enhance participants’ pro-environmental behavior intentions;thirdly,enhances the carrying capacity of the natural resource environment to promote sustainable local ecological development.This study is based on the relationship between local attachment and pro-environmental behavior intentions of scholars at home and abroad,and for the first time places the study in an outdoor sports context represented by aquatic sports.The study also demonstrated that the specific mechanisms of local attachment on pro-environmental behavior intentions differed significantly across participation frequencies,which has implications for expanding the study of local attachment and pro-environmental behavior intentions.It also suggests that future research can contribute to this field at both the theoretical and practical levels by combining qualitative and quantitative research methods and by enriching the study of causal variables.