Childhood Maltreatment Is Associated with Fire-Related Attitudes: The Role of Environmental Identity in a Portuguese Community Sample

Deliberate fire-setting represents a significant environmental and public safety concern, yet research has primarily focused on identified firesetters and forensic or clinical populations. This study examined associations between childhood maltreatment and self-reported fire-related attitudes and tendencies in a Portuguese community sample, considering environmental identity as a potential indirect pathway and residential context in these associations. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 5077 Portuguese adults using self-report measures of childhood maltreatment, environmental identity, and fire-related attitudes and tendencies. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapped indirect-effect analyses were complemented by multigroup path analyses across rural, suburban, and urban settings. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect were directly associated with higher levels of fire-related attitudes and tendencies. Significant indirect associations through connectedness with nature were observed for emotional abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect, whereas protection of nature was involved in a specific indirect association with emotional neglect. Structural associations were largely comparable across residential contexts, despite modest group differences in construct levels. These findings suggest that developmental adversity and psychological relationships with nature are relevant correlates of fire-related attitudes and tendencies, while causal interpretations and inferences about actual fire-setting behavior remain unwarranted.