Do pro-social students care more for the environment?

This study uses pro-social and pro-environment attitudes as indicators of social and environmental sustainability to empirically examine the relationship between the two pillars of sustainability. Self reported survey responses of undergraduate students of University of Utah are used for conducting a two-stage quantile regression analysis wherein social support serves as an instrument for identifying pro-social attitude for estimating the relationship between pro-social and pro-environment attitudes. The estimates show that students who receive more social support tend to be more pro-social, and more pro-social students are more pro-environment. These results reiterate that universities can enhance sustainability education by adopting a more holistic approach wherein social and environmental sustainability are cointegrated. Additionally, by strengthening their role as a vital source of social support for students, universities can further enhance the synergistic relationship between pro-social and pro-environment attitudes of university students.