Measuring Endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm: A Revised NEP Scale - Statistical Data Included

Journal of Social Issues, Fall, 2000 by Riley E. Dunlap, Kent D. Van Liere, Angela G. Mertig, Robert Emmet Jones

Different researchers will have varying interpretations of the results of this analysis. Because the evidence suggests the presence of one predominant factor, and because the first three factors have items from several facets loading heavily on them, we are not inclined to create four NEP subscales measuring the four factors that emerged from the principal-components analysis and varimax rotation. Furthermore, because all 15 items load heavily on the first unrotated factor, have strong item-total correlations and yield an alpha of .83 when combined into a single measure, we think it is appropriate to treat them as constituting a single (revised) NEP Scale. Further, the revised NEP Scale possesses a level of internal consistency that justifies treating it as a measure of a coherent belief system or worldview. Of course, future research on differing samples is needed to confirm the appropriateness of treating the new set of 15 items as a single measure of endorsement of an ecological worldview as opposed to cr eating two or more dimensions of such a worldview from the NEP items. As noted earlier, differing populations will no doubt vary in the degree to which the NEP beliefs are organized into a highly consistent belief system, and in many cases it will no doubt be more appropriate to treat the NEP as multidimensional.

Predictive and Construct Validity

Because the original NEP Scale has been subjected to a good deal of testing and has been found to have considerable validity, we are not concerned about obtaining evidence on the validity of the new measure at this stage. However, the 1990 questionnaire included a number of indicators of proenvironmental (or proecological) orientation, and examining the correlations between them and the revised NEP Scale provides at least limited data on the predictive validity of the latter. Scores on the revised NEP Scale correlate significantly (r =.61) with scores on a 13-item measure of the perceived seriousness of world ecological problems (the higher the NEP score, the more likely the problems are seen as serious); significantly (.57) with a 4-item measure of support for proenvironment policies (the higher the NEP score, the more support for the policies); significantly (.45) with a 4-item measure of the perceived seriousness of state and community air and water pollution (the higher the NEP score, the more likely pol lution is viewed as serious); and--most importantly--significantly (.31) with a 10-item measure of (self-reported) proenvironmental behaviors (more behaviors are reported by those with high NEP scores). These results, showing that the new NEP Scale is related to a wide range of ecological attitudes and behaviors, suggest that it possesses predictive validity.

Researchers have consistently found young, well-educated, and politically liberal adults to be more proenvironmental than their counterparts and have offered theoretical explanations for these findings (Jones & Dunlap, 1992). In addition, one would expect to find people with such characteristics more likely to endorse, in particular, an ecological worldview, for the reasons noted previously. Our results fit this pattern, although only political liberalism is substantially (r = .32) correlated with endorsement of the NEP. Age is slightly (-.11), albeit significantly, related to endorsement of the NEP, as is education (.10), both in the expected direction.