THE FIRST PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF TURKISH VERSION OF THE NEW ECOLOGICAL PARADIGM (NEP) SCALE FOR CHILDREN AND GIFTED STUDENTS? ECOLOGICAL BELIEFS

Abstract

The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale has been extensively used to measure adults? environmental values. However, it has only recently been adapted for use with children. This paper presented the Turkish version of the NEP Scale for Children, examined its pre-psychometric properties. Besides, gifted and normal children?s ecological beliefs were compared. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted, followed by concurrent validity. Primary School Students' Attitudes towards Environment Scale was used for concurrent validity. In addition, the instrument?s internal consistency and re-test reliability were studied. Results explanatory factor analyses demonstrated that 10 items yielded three-factors, as original form and that the three-dimensional model was explained 50.21% of total variance. Factor loadings ranged from .45 to .73. In the concurrent validity significant positive relationship was found between NEP Scale for Children and Primary School Students' Attitudes towards Environment Scale. Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficients were found as .84 for whole scale. Moreover, test-retest reliability coefficient was .71 and corrected item-total correlations ranged from .37 to .69. In second study, gifted students? ecological paradigm scores were higher than non-gifted students?. The results were discussed in the light of the related literature.