Do Forest Experience, Socialization and Demographic Characteristics Affect the Attitudes toward Hunting of Youths from Urban Areas?

Abstract

Acceptance of forest management and its park, game and wildlife management is decreasing in Europe. Building a positive attitude toward game and wildlife management is a field of work of forest educators. To design and conduct effective activities, it was crucial to identify the specific needs. We conducted a survey among Polish high school students from cities and towns (1947 individuals) to find out answers to the following questions: What kind of attitude toward hunting (ATH) do Polish teenagers have? What shapes their ATH? Is this attitude and its drivers similar to the ones of adults? Half of Polish urban teenagers recognized that hunting in Poland is necessary. From socio-demographic factors, forest and hunting experience had the largest impact on teenagers’ attitude toward hunting. Gender and social network had a smaller but still significant impact. Other factors, e.g., place of residence, had no impact on the ATH. Our results show that forest education should be focused on all young residents, no matter if they are from a big city or a small town, as teenagers’ ATH is the same. Field trips and other active methods are recommended because personal experience has the largest impact on shaping ATH.