New Ecological Paradigm Scale for Children (NEP-C)

The New Ecological Paradigm for Children is modeled after the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) and the New Ecological Paradigm-Revised (NEP-Revised) for adults. The survey contains 10 questions assessing three subscales that contribute to one's environmental world view including rights of nature, eco-crisis, and human exceptionalism.

Average Review: 2 (2.5)

Supplemental Information:

  • NEPforChildren_Scale.doc (14.1 KB) Download

Assessment Type:

Self-assessment

Scale:

5-point Likert scale

Publication Date:

Oct 26, 2011

Respondent:

672 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students

Domain(s) Evaluated:

Attitude / Behavior

Sample items:

On a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements:

1. Plants and animals have as much right as people to live.
2. There are too many (or almost too many) people on earth.

Reliability:

Sample t-test = 0.83

Validity:

Predictive, content, and known-group validity established (Dunlap, Van Liere, Mertig, & Jones, 2000)

Frequency:

Rarely

Administration time:

10 minutes

Requires a Computer:

No

Requires Internet Access:

No

Primary reference:

Manoli, C., Johnson, B., & Dunlap, R. E. (2007). Assessing children's environmental worldviews: Modifying and validating the new ecological paradigm scale for use with children. The Journal of Environmental Education, 38(4), 3-13.

Comments:

Note that questions 3, 6, 7, and 9 should be reverse scored. For example, a response of "5" (meaning "strongly agree") should be assigned a score of "1" for scoring purposes. Likewise, a score of "4" would be reverse scored as a "2" and a score of "3" would be scored a "3". A score of "2" or "1" would be assigned a score of "4" or "5" respectively.

Izadpanahi, P. (2015, October 22). Green and not heard: The relationship between sustainably designed primary schools and children’s environmental attitudes and behaviours (Doctoral dissertation, Deakin University, 2015) [Abstract].

Studies that use NEP-C:
Daly, M. (2014). Environmental attitudes, connection to nature, and conscientiousness of primary school participants in a green-school programme. Dublin Business School.
Kopnina, H. (2012). ‘People are not plants, but both need to grow’: Qualitative analysis of the new ecological paradigm scale for children. The Environmentalist, 32(4), 394-404.

Khan, A., Khan, M. N., & Adil, M. (2012). Exploring the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale in India: Item analysis, factor structure and refinement. Asia-Pacific Journal of Management Research and Innovation, 8(4), 389–397.

Mobley, C., Vagias, W. M., & DeWard, S. L. (2010). Exploring additional determinants of environmentally responsible behavior: The influence of environmental literature and environmental attitudes. Environment and Behavior, 42(4), 420–447.

Manoli, C. C., Johnson, B., & Dunlap, R. E. (2007). Assessing children's environmental worldviews: Modifying and validating the New Ecological Paradigm Scale for use with children. The Journal of Environmental Education, 38(4), 3-13.

Other Reference:

Jackson, L. (2013). Cultivating the environmental awareness of third graders through inquiry based ecopedagogy: Impact on students achievement and attitudes (Doctoral dissertation). Georgia Southern University. Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1893&context=etd

The study made use of NEP-C with third graders. A paired sample t-test gave a reliability score of 0.83. Predictive and content validity were established.

STEM Criteria

Science

Yes

Technology

No

Engineering

No

Math

No