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

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 .

Keywords:

• Child
• environmental attitudes
• environmental beliefs
• questionnaire
• validation

Acknowledgement

The authors thank Miguel A. Sorrel and Pablo Nájera for their comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Spanish Ministry of Science, Education and Universities (PGC2018-095502-B-I00).