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Spanish Version of the New Ecological Paradigm Scale for Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 June 2013

José A. Corraliza ,
Silvia Collado  and
Lisbeth Bethelmy
José A. Corraliza*
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
Silvia Collado
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
Lisbeth Bethelmy
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to José Antonio Corraliza. Departamento de Psicología Social y Metodología. Facultad de Psicología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. 28049 Madrid (Spain). E-mail: josea.corraliza@uam.es
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Abstract

The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale has been extensively used to measure adults’ environmental attitudes. However, it has only recently been adapted for use with children. This paper presents a Spanish version of the NEP Scale for Children, examines children’s ecological beliefs according to socio-demographic variables as well as the relationship between children’s ecological beliefs and pro-environmental behavior. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted, followed by confirmatory factor analysis. In addition, the instrument’s internal consistency was studied and links between environmental attitudes, age, and ecological behavior in children were examined through correlation analyses. The results show that children’s ecological worldviews can be described by a dimension called “overall ecocentrism”. Analysis of variance demonstrated that children from rural areas exhibit a more ecocentric worldview than those from urban areas. The results also denote gender differences.

Keywords

childhoodecological beliefsNEP scaleenvironmental attitudes
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 16 , 2013 , E27
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2013 

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Footnotes

This study was conducted thanks to the support of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PSI 2009-13422). We would like to thank Red Eléctrica de España for its support. We would also like to thank the Spanish Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional, from which Lisbeth Bethelmy received a grant.

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