Spanish Version of the New Ecological Paradigm Scale for Children

Abstract

Esta es la versión de autor del artículo publicado en: This is an author produced version of a paper published in: El acceso a la versión del editor puede requerir la suscripción del recurso Access to the published version may require subscriptionIt is crucial to study environmental attitudes and behavior in populations of children, considering that the envi ronment's future will depend on the decisions of coming generations (Larson, Green, & Castleberry, 2011;van Petegem & Blieck, 2006). However, little is known about children's environmental attitudes, how they develop, or the variables that influence them. The dearth of reliable instruments to measure such atti tudes is, in part, why progress in this field has been so slow (Evans et al., 2007;Manoli, Johnson, & Dunlap, 2007). This stands in contrast to the great many studies of environmental attitudes in adults. One of the most widelyused instruments measuring adults' ecolog ical beliefs is the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale by Dunlap and van Liere (1978). According to the New Environmental Paradigm, worldviews are shifting from anthropocentric to ecocentric, the latter of which considers human beings' impact on nature and sug gests limits be placed on growth. The NEP scale consists of 12 items and was created to measure people's affinity for this ecocentric perspective. It was later revised to include a similar number of items in favor of and against the ecocentric view it aims to detect, to incorporate more uptodate environmental problems, and to revise the terminology used in certain items (Dunlap, van Liere, Mertig, & Jones, 2000), giving way to the New Ecological Paradigm: NEP revised. The revised scale is made up of 15 items whose content describes, in five parts, the humannature relationship: 1) ecological limits, 2) antianthropocentrism, 3) balance of nature, 4) antiexceptionalism, and 5) ecocrisis. The NEP scale has been utilized, among other things, to link ecological beliefs to proenvironmental behavior. It has been established that the NEP scale is positively associated with human ecological behavior. For example, Vozmediano and San Juan (2005) found that the NEP scale's ecocentrism dimension is positively correlated with the frequency with which people perform ecolog ical behaviors (r = .12, p < .01) and positive outcomes from those behaviors (r = .28, p < .01). It is negatively correlated, meanwhile, with the effort involved in such behavior (r = −.20, p < .01). Similarly, Olli, Grendstad, and Wollebaek (2001) showed, through multiple regression analysis, that the NEP, together with other variables like family income and environmental knowledge, is able to predict different types of ecological behavior, such as responsible consumption (b = 0.58, β = .09; p < .01) and conservation of resources (b = 0.64, β =.10; p < .01).Hawcroft and Milfont (2010) conducted a metaanalysis of the NEP's use in over 300 studies since 1970. The authors recommend using it as a standardized mea sure of environmental attitudes, and point out just one study wher...

The role played by age on children's pro-ecological behaviors: An exploratory analysis

“…On the contrary, Müller, Kals, and Pansa (2009) demonstrated that youngsters from rural areas were more pro-environmental than those in urban ones and claim that frequency of contact with nature (higher in rural areas) is one of the reasons for this result. Similar outcomes were found with children (Corraliza, Collado, & Bethelmy, 2013). These results suggest that not only contact with nature but also type of experience in the natural world may influence the outcomes obtained, such as improved environmental attitudes and behaviors.…”

Effect of frequency and mode of contact with nature on children's self-reported ecological behaviors

“…For instance, Corraliza, Collado and Bethelmy (2013) found a positive but weak (r = .14, p < 0.01) relation between children's ecological beliefs and EB (e.g., switching off the lights when leaving a room). Moreover, Evans, Juen, Corral-Verdugo, Corraliza, & Kaiser (2007 b) evaluated children's EA and EB in four different countries and did not find a significant relationship between them.…”

Environmental worldviews of Serbian and Macedonian school students

“…To support the hypothesis that early childhood encounters with nature are crucial for the development of positive environmental values is supported by environmentalists' retrospective reports, which are replete with stories of early and memorable encounters with pristine nature (Kahn & Kellert, 2002). Some authors point out that there is a correlation between the urbanisation of the place where an individual lives and environmental worldviews (Berenguer, Corraliza, & Martín, 2005;Corraliza, Collado, & Bethelmy, 2013;Freudenburg, 1991). People living in a rural context present more attitudes of environmental responsibility and greater consistency when expressing behavioural intentions that are compatible with the protection of the environment (Berenguer, Corraliza, & Martín, 2005).…”

“…People living in a rural context present more attitudes of environmental responsibility and greater consistency when expressing behavioural intentions that are compatible with the protection of the environment (Berenguer, Corraliza, & Martín, 2005). Children from rural areas exhibit a more ecocentric worldview than those from urban areas (Corraliza, Collado, & Bethelmy, 2013). Thus, the higher NEP score of the Macedonian students is probably due to the fact that some of them (34%) live in rural areas ( Table 2).…”