The utility and limitations of the New Ecological Paradigm scale for children

IF 1.7 4区教育学 Q2 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Journal of Environmental Education Pub Date : 2022-03-03 DOI:10.1080/00958964.2022.2044281

Claudio D. Rosa, Silvia Collado, Lincoln R. Larson

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引用次数: 3

Abstract

Abstract The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale adapted for use with children (NEP-C) is one of the most frequently used measures of children’s environmental beliefs. Though widely utilized, the limitations of the NEP-C instrument are often overlooked. Based on a systematic synthesis of existing literature examining the NEP-C, we argue that the scale assesses specific types of beliefs within the larger NEP, that some children have difficulty comprehending items of this scale, and that the one-factor and three-factor models proposed in the original NEP-C did not achieve an exact fit to empirical data. Additionally, the relevance of the NEP-C total score as a predictor of children’s pro-environmental behaviors is questionable. Although the NEP-C is useful for measuring specific types of environmental beliefs, many researchers using this scale may be interested in broader constructs. We highlight potential benefits and drawbacks of using the NEP-C and discuss new directions for environmental education research. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2022.2044281 .

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儿童新生态范式量表的效用与局限性

儿童新生态范式(NEP)量表(NEP- c)是儿童环境信念最常用的测量方法之一。虽然NEP-C仪器被广泛使用，但其局限性经常被忽视。基于对现有研究NEP- c的文献的系统综合，我们认为该量表评估了更大的NEP中的特定类型的信念，一些儿童在理解该量表的项目方面存在困难，并且原始NEP- c中提出的单因素和三因素模型并没有达到与经验数据的精确拟合。此外，NEP-C总分作为儿童亲环境行为预测因子的相关性值得怀疑。尽管NEP-C对于测量特定类型的环境信念很有用，但许多使用该量表的研究人员可能对更广泛的结构感兴趣。我们强调了使用NEP-C的潜在好处和缺点，并讨论了环境教育研究的新方向。本文的补充数据可在https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2022.2044281上在线获得。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Environmental Education Multiple-

CiteScore

6.20

自引率

12.90%

发文量

期刊介绍： Any educator in the environmental field will find The Journal of Environmental Education indispensable. Based on recent research in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, the journal details how best to present environmental issues and how to evaluate programs already in place for primary through university level and adult students. University researchers, park and recreation administrators, and teachers from the United States and abroad provide new analyses of the instruction, theory, methods, and practices of environmental communication and education in peer-reviewed articles. Reviews of the most recent books, textbooks, videos, and other educational materials by experts in the field appear regularly.