Attitude and willingness of biodiversity conservation in Chinese university students: Associated factors and the mediation of social support

(Odds ratio, OR = 0.52; 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.39–0.70); students with lower average score in courses (<80) also were less likely to put a higher level of importance on biodiversity conservation (OR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.49–0.78); a 1 point increase in average social support score was associated with increased likelihood in recognizing the significance of biodiversity conser- vation (OR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.35–1.81) (Table 2). For willingness to practice in biodiversity conservation, major, average score of social sup- port, and attitude of biodiversity conservation were significant associated factors: compared with students majored in agriculture or forestry, those who majored in other subjects were also less likely to report willingness (OR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.43–0.90); a 1 point increase in aver- age social support score was associated with higher likelihood of willingness (OR = 1.47, 95% CI: 1.23–1.75); students who recognized biodiversity conservation as “very important” were more likely to report willingness (OR = 3.73, 95% CI: 2.75–5.08) (Table 2). 3.3 Mediation of social support in the association between attitude and willingness We performed path analysis to evaluate the mediation of social support in the association between attitude and willingness of biodiversity conservation. The analytical results revealed that social support in general presented statistically significant mediation in this association, accounted for 3.94% of the total association (Fig 1). As for different types of

social support, social support from classmates mediated the largest proportion of the associ- ation (4.32%), followed by social support from teachers (3.79%), from friends (3.24%), and from parents (2.26%) (Fig 2). A series of stratified analyses were further done, and the results were jointly summarized in Table 3: sex, race, and residence exhibited prominent effect modification on mediation of social support, the mediation was only statistically sig- nificant in male, Han majority, and students whose family residences located in townships or cities. Table 2. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis results for associated factors of attitude and willingness to practice biodiversity conservation. Factors Attitude (Very important) Willingness (Willing to) Crude OR (90% CI) Adjusted OR (95% CI) Crude OR (90% CI) Adjusted OR (95% CI) Sex (Ref: Male): Female 1.19 (0.99, 1.43) 1.33 (1.05, 1.69) 1.24 (0.91, 1.67) Race (Ref: Han majority): Minorities 1.25 (1.00, 1.55) 1.25 (0.96, 1.65) 1.48 (1.10, 2.01) 1.30 (0.91, 1.91) Single child (Ref: Yes): No 0.90 (0.72, 1.12) 1.25 (0.95, 1.63) Education level of father (Ref: Primary school and below) Junior high school 0.90 (0.73, 1.11) 0.78 (0.59, 1.03) 0.80 (0.61, 1.05) Senior high school and above 0.68 (0.53, 0.87) 0.60 (0.41, 0.88) 0.79 (0.57, 1.10) Education level of mother (Ref: Primary school and below) Junior high school 1.24 (1.00, 1.53) 1.47 (1.10, 1.95) 0.79 (0.60, 1.04) 0.73 (0.51, 1.03)

Senior high school and above 0.85 (0.65, 1.09) 1.08 (0.74, 1.60) 0.61 (0.45, 0.85) 0.63 (0.40, 0.99) Family residence (Ref: Village): Township or city 0.92 (0.75, 1.12) 0.77 (0.60, 0.99) 0.89 (0.63, 1.28) Student type (Ref: Pre-college students) Undergraduates 0.93 (0.73, 1.18) 0.83 (0.61, 1.13) 0.92 (0.67, 1.25) Postgraduates 2.05 (1.32, 3.26) 1.21 (0.68, 2.23) 1.49 (0.86, 2.72) Major (Ref: Agriculture or forestry): Other 0.50 (0.40, 0.62) 0.52 (0.39, 0.70) 0.49 (0.36, 0.65) 0.63 (0.43, 0.90) Average score of courses (Ref: �80): <80 0.60 (0.49, 0.72) 0.62 (0.49, 0.78) 0.95 (0.74, 1.20) Average score of social support: +1 1.61 (1.43, 1.81) 1.56 (1.35, 1.81) 1.63 (1.42, 1.86) 1.47 (1.23, 1.75) Attitude (Ref: Important and below): Very important _NA NA 4.34 (3.39, 5.58) 3.73 (2.75, 5.08) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0307510.t002 PLOS ONE Attitude and willingness of bio-conservation in Chinese university students PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0307510 July 19, 2024 5 / 9