Evidence points against the use of the Children’s New Ecological Paradigm scale in its present formThe New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale is intended to measure the environmental concern of groups of people. Approximately half of the items on the scale are presented in the form of statements endorsing the new ecological paradigm “which is in contrast with the dominant social paradigm in which nature is believed to exist for human use and greater value is placed on economic prosperity, abundance, and individualism than on the environment.” The original NEP was developed for adults but a later version was developed for children ages 10-12. The developers of the children’s version of the NEP (abbreviated here as NEP-C) identified three dimensions that seemed to remain stable across different groups of children within the 10-12 age band: rights of nature, human exemptionalism, and eco-crisis. This study investigated how well NEP-C scores maintain the same meaning between children in the 10-12 age range and adolescents. Two strategies were used in investigating this question: measurement invariance testing and cognitive interviews.
Measurement invariance is a statistical element of measurement that indicates that the same construct is being measured across groups. The cognitive interview is a questioning technique used to help interviewees recall more relevant information about an event or situation than what is available through traditional interview methods. Seven students participated in the cognitive interviews -- three were in Grade 8, two in Grade 9, and one in each of Grades 11 and 12. These seven students were self-selected from a group of 362 students completing an online version of the NEP-C. The interviews took place two weeks after the administration of the NEP-C. The purpose of the interviews was to investigate whether students drew from the intended construct (rights of nature, human exemptionalism, and eco-crisis) when responding to the NEP-C.
The combined results of these two research strategies (measurement invariance testing and cognitive interviews) revealed that at least 20% of the items on the NEP-C function differently than expected. These findings are consistent with some critiques of the adult NEP. Findings also showed that the scoring scale of the NEP-C does not carry the same meaning with Grade 8–12 students as it does with Grade 6–7 students. These findings point against the use of the NEP-C in its current form.
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