Ocean connectedness and carbon footprint awareness among undergraduates: the serial mediating roles of ocean stewardship and moral disengagement in high-carbon behavior

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Achieving ocean sustainability requires not only technological and policy responses but also greater awareness of how everyday activities contribute to carbon emissions. Although ocean connectedness has been linked to pro-environmental behavior, its relationship with carbon footprint awareness and the psychological processes underlying this relationship remain unclear. Using cross-sectional survey data from 720 undergraduates at a marine-focused university in China, this study tested a serial mediation model involving ocean connectedness, ocean stewardship, moral disengagement in high-carbon behavior, and carbon footprint awareness. The results showed that ocean connectedness positively predicted carbon footprint awareness. Ocean stewardship and moral disengagement in high-carbon behavior each mediated the relationship between ocean connectedness and carbon footprint awareness and jointly constituted a serial mediation pathway. The study extends research on human–ocean relationships to individual-level carbon-related cognition and provides theoretical and practical implications for cultivating low-carbon awareness among university students through ocean education.