Italian Sustainable Living—Survey on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviours Among the Italian Population

Edoardo Miotto (), Beatrice Favero, Cecilia Smaniotto, Anna Saramin, Silvia Cannone, Maria Francesca Furmenti, Lucia Palandri, Giovanna Adamo, Gianluca Voglino, Maria Parpinel and Laura Brunelli
Additional contact information
Edoardo Miotto: Department of Medicine, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
Beatrice Favero: Department of Medicine, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
Cecilia Smaniotto: Department of Prevention, Friuli Occidentale Healthcare Trust, 33170 Pordenone, Italy
Anna Saramin: Department of Medicine, Surgery and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, 34149 Trieste, Italy
Silvia Cannone: Health Management, Local Health Authority of Barletta-Andria-Trani, 76123 Andria, Italy
Maria Francesca Furmenti: Management and Healthcare Laboratory, Institute of Management, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Lucia Palandri: Section of Public Health, Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Giovanna Adamo: Department of Prevention, Local Health Autority of Rome 2, 00159 Roma, Italy
Gianluca Voglino: Department of Sciences of Public Health and Pediatrics, University of Turin, Via Santena 5/bis, 10126 Torino, Italy
Maria Parpinel: Department of Medicine, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
Laura Brunelli: Department of Medicine, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 24, 1-20

Abstract: Education and knowledge are essential for fostering sustainable living, which helps to protect our planet and promote health and socio-economic development. This study investigated sustainable living knowledge and behaviours among the general Italian population. A 40-item questionnaire was created to assess knowledge, awareness, and attitudes in eight domains: house, energy, food, personal care, shopping, transportation, waste, water and other consumption. The questionnaire was distributed online between January and June 2023. A multiple logistic regression model was performed to assess the relationships between all the variables surveyed. Among the 420 people who participated (66% female, median age of 39 years), 76% had a higher-level education degree and 72% had never participated in a sustainability initiative. Knowledge about sustainability was lower in the domains of shopping (70.6%) and transportation (85.0%). The fewest behaviours carried out/products used were found in the domains of personal care (31.3%) and transportation (47.8%). Positive associations were found between the use/adoption of sustainable items and knowledge about sustainability (aOR: 1.38, CI: 1.35–1.41) and previous inherent educational activities (aOR: 1.04, CI: 1.03–1.06). Age, region of residence and urbanisation context were factors that discontinuously influenced the implementation of the considered items for transportation and food. Improvements are needed to close the gap between knowledge and action, especially in the domain of personal care. A better understanding of the factors that play a role in the non-use of transportation will help to develop measures to promote sustainability and societal wellbeing.

Keywords: UN sustainable development goals; sustainability; education for sustainable development; sustainable living; lifestyle; behaviours (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/24/11186/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/24/11186/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:24:p:11186-:d:1548336

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().