Exploring the Construct of Relational Values: An Empirical Approach

Abstract

In recent environmental research, relational values (RVs) have emerged as a new group of values to explain environmental behavior. Although this new concept is attracting attention, empirical studies on the subject are still rare. On this basis, we have conducted three studies to analyze an existing measurement tool for RVs and compared the construct with the concept of connection to nature. In study 1, we confirmed convergent and discriminant validity of the RV scale by comparing it with the Two Factor Model of Environmental Values (2-MEV) model using a sample of n = 350 university students. Additionally, study 1 verified reliability using test-retest reliability on three different groups of students (n 1 = 53; n 2 = 37; n 3 = 48). In study 2, principal component analyses were performed to examine the structure of RVs and to compare it to the concept of connection to nature by reusing the sample 350 university students from study 1. The results show that RVs and connection to nature are not fundamentally distinct constructs, but overlap. However, if the structure of the RV measurement is forced to a single factor, no perfect fit is found, making a multidimensional solution more likely. A third study was conducted to review the results from study 2 using confirmatory factor analysis on a new sample of 878 university and high school students. Study 3 confirmed RVs as a multidimensional construct with three factors: care, community, and connection. It also proved the overlap of the connection to nature and RV concepts to some extent. Keywords: relational values, connectedness to nature, connectedness to nature scale, scale validation, environmental behavior, two factor model of environmental values model Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org

Impact of biological education and gender on students’ connection to nature and relational values

“…the RV concept [47,51]. The third commonality is that both concepts have an influence in the environmental behavior of a person (e.g.…”

“…Most RVs research focuses on theoretical framework (e.g. [38,[41][42][43]) or qualitative methods [40,44], whereas quantitative research is conducted only in a few publications [40,[45][46][47][48]. However, quantitative studies are very important to bring empirical evidence on the topic of RVs and to prove hypothesizes and assumptions theoretical analysis and qualitative research set.…”

“…The RV concept, as used in this study, includes parts of all three clusters of HNC. Thus the RVs include the relationship between people, places and nature [ 35 ] as in HCN as place and HCN as experience, but also elements of the emotional connection of nature [ 47 , 51 ] as in HNC as mind. Another kind of HNC from environmental psychology and environmental education research that can be assigned to the HNC as mind is the concept of connection to nature [ 13 , 52 ].…”

“…Connection to nature describers the emotional [ 13 , 55 ] and cognitive [ 56 ] connection of the individual to nature. This is also a part of the RV concept [ 47 , 51 ]. The third commonality is that both concepts have an influence in the environmental behavior of a person (e.g.…”

“…The first difference is that the RVs also include other aspects which go beyond the construct of connection to nature. For example, community, care, identity and kinship are part of the RVs [ 35 , 45 , 47 , 51 ] but not of connection to nature. The second difference is that while the connection to nature concept deals with the connection of an individual to nature [ 13 , 52 , 55 ], the RVs also refer to concrete values what people see as important and meaningful about nature in relation to other people [ 35 ].…”