A Measure of Nature Connectedness for Children and Adults: Validation, Performance, and Insights

By Miles Richardson, A. Hunt, J. Hinds, Rachel Bragg, D. Fido, Dominic Petronzi, Lea Barbett, Theodore J. Clitherow, Matthew P. White. Sustainability, 2019

209 citations recorded by the source corpus.

With benefits to both human well-being and pro-nature conservation behaviors, nature connectedness is emerging as an important psychological construct for a sustainable future. The growing research and applied and policy-related interests require a straightforward measure of nature connectedness that is suitable for both children and adult populations. To establish the reliability of the new Nature Connection Index (NCI) three factor analyses were conducted. One was based on a large Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment (MENE) dataset for adults (n = 3568) with a replication from data sets collected online (n = 553), and a third used MENE data from children (n = 351). To validate the NCI as a measure for nature connectedness an online comparison study (n = 153) included the NCI alongside other established measures. The results showed that the NCI was a reliable and valid scale that offers a short, simple alternative to other measures of nature connectedness, particularly for populations including both children and adults, measured face to face or online. The utility of the NCI is also supported, with variations associated with various pro-environmental and pro-conservation behaviors observed, and importantly the NCI also revealed changes in nature connectedness across the lifespan.

Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/512b957ca696ef24bbcfc501e5a19377a1ebb373

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

1. A. Hunt
2. Miles Richardson
3. R. Lumber
4. Lea Barbett
5. R. Young
6. M. White
7. B. Moorhouse
8. Sabine Pahl

In Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

1. A. Hunt
2. Miles Richardson
3. R. Lumber
4. R. Young
5. Jim Burt
6. M. White
7. B. Moorhouse
8. Sabine Pahl

In Social Psychology

1. A. Hunt
2. Miles Richardson
3. R. Lumber
4. Rory Thomas
5. M. White
6. Sabine Pahl
7. Holli-Anne Passmore

Citations in the corpus

• The green care code: How nature connectedness and simple activities help explain pro‐nature conservation behaviours (2020, methodology): “Furthermore, alternative measures of nature connectedness could be employed, such as the Nature Connection Index (Richardson et al., 2019), the Nature Connectedness Scale (Mayer & Frantz, 2004), or the Nature Relatedness Scale (Nisbet et al., 2009), along with the longer version of the ProCoBS…”
• Nature contact, nature connectedness and associations with health, wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviours (2020, methodology): “The NCI has favourable psychometric properties, with good levels of internal reliability (α = .92 in the current study) and convergent validity with US developed scales such as the Nature Relatedness Scale and the Inclusion of Nature in the Self measure (Richardson et al., 2019).”
• Moments, not minutes: The nature-wellbeing relationship (2021, methodology): “For example, additional measures of nature connectedness could be employed, such as the Nature Connection Index (Richardson et al., 2019), the Nature Connectedness Scale (Mayer & Frantz, 2004) or the Nature Relatedness Scale (Nisbet et al., 2009).”
• Applying the pathways to nature connectedness at a societal scale: a leverage points perspective (2020, background): “Those engaged with pro-nature conservation behaviours typically have higher levels of nature connectedness (Hughes et al. 2018; Richardson et al. 2019).”