ABC Connectedness to Nature Scale (ABC-CNS)

Abstract

The **ABC Connectedness to Nature Scale** (ABC-CNS), developed by Cuadrado et al. (2023), is a concise 15-item inventory designed to quantify an individual’s psychological relationship with the natural world. Grounded in the tridimensional perspective of attitudes—encompassing affective, behavioral, and cognitive components—the ABC-CNS assesses how individuals feel, act, and perceive themselves in relation to nature. The scale was constructed using a combination of translated, adapted, and newly created items, and its initial validation was conducted on university students in Ecuador and Spain. Subsequent factor analysis confirmed a robust three-dimensional structure.

Developers have provided strong evidence supporting the scale’s reliability, validity, and crucial **cross-cultural invariance**. They acknowledge the limitation of using primarily university students in their initial research and suggest that future research should involve a more diverse population to further corroborate and expand upon their findings regarding the measurement of connectedness to nature.

Keywords

Affective Connectedness, Behavioral Connectedness, Cognitive Connectedness, Connectedness to Nature, Divergent Validity, External Validity, Pro-environmental Attitudes, Pro-environmental Behavior, Cross-cultural Invariance, Psychometric Scale.

Authors

Cuadrado, Esther, Macias-Zambrano, Luis, Carpio, Antonio J., Tabernero, Carmen.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the ABC-CNS is to provide environmental professionals and researchers with a reliable and psychometrically sound instrument for quantifying the multifaceted nature of connectedness to nature. This measurement is critical because an individual’s relationship with the natural world is recognized as a significant psychological variable.

The scale helps evaluate how this deep psychological variable may influence crucial outcomes, specifically a person’s overall mental health and their tendency to engage in **pro-environmental behavior**. By isolating the affective, behavioral, and cognitive components, the ABC-CNS offers a nuanced understanding beyond a single global score, aiding targeted interventions and environmental education efforts.

Construct

The ABC-CNS is theoretically rooted in the tridimensional model of attitudes, which posits that attitudes are composed of three distinct yet interrelated components. The scale measures **Connectedness to Nature** across these three dimensions:

• Cognitive Dimension: Reflects the individual’s beliefs and perceptions regarding their place in the natural world (e.g., believing they are an integral part of nature).
• Affective Dimension: Measures the emotional bonds, feelings, and sentiments experienced in relation to nature (e.g., feeling joy or deep love for nature).
• Behavioral Dimension: Assesses the tendency to act or engage in activities that reflect integration with, or care for, the natural world (e.g., frequently going out to nature or caring for animals).

The 15 items are structured to capture these three facets comprehensively, providing a detailed profile of the psychological construct of connectedness to nature.

Validity

The developers performed extensive psychometric testing to establish the validity of the ABC-CNS.

Construct Validity: Factor analysis strongly supported the structural validity of the measure, confirming that the data aligned with the underlying theoretical framework of three distinct dimensions (Affective, Behavioral, Cognitive). This confirmed the scale successfully measured the intended constructs.

Convergent and Discriminant Validity: The scale demonstrated strong **convergent validity** through expected positive correlations with established constructs such as general environmental attitudes, appreciation for nature, preservation behaviors, and specific **pro-environmental behaviors** (like recycling). Conversely, the scale established **discriminant validity** by showing no significant relationship between the ABC-CNS factors and the unrelated ecological behaviors of participants’ classmates, confirming that the scale measures the individual’s own attitudes and behaviors, not external factors.

External Validity: Consistent findings showed that individuals scoring higher on the ABC-CNS (across all three dimensions) also reported more positive general **pro-environmental attitudes** and exhibited more frequent engagement in activities aimed at appreciating and preserving nature, linking the scale’s internal measures to real-world outcomes.

Reliability

The ABC-CNS demonstrated strong **internal consistency** across its dimensions, suggesting that the items within each factor reliably measure the same underlying construct. Reliability was assessed using two primary coefficients.

• Cronbach’s Alpha (Cronbach’s α): Values ranged from .73 to .96, indicating acceptable to excellent reliability across the subscales.
• H Coefficient: Values varied between .80 and .98, further corroborating the high degree of internal consistency and reliability of the measure.

Factor Analysis

Both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were utilized during the scale’s development and validation. The EFA successfully extracted the anticipated three factors (Affective, Behavioral, Cognitive), which collectively accounted for 69.75% of the total variance. Crucially, all 15 items loaded appropriately onto their respective proposed dimensions, supporting the scale’s structural integrity.

The tridimensional structure identified in the EFA was further tested for **cross-cultural invariance** using multigroup CFA, comparing samples from Spain and Ecuador. The results confirmed that the tridimensional model provided a good fit for both the Spanish and Ecuadorian samples. Specifically, the fit indices were acceptable across almost all criteria for both countries, suggesting the ABC-CNS is stable and valid for use across these distinct cultural settings.

Instrument

Test Type: Original Inventory/Questionnaire

Format: Items are rated using a 5-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree).

Language Available: Spanish, English

Population Group: Human (Male and Female)

Age Group: Adulthood (18 yrs & older), including Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs), Thirties (30-39 yrs), and Middle Age (40-64 yrs).

Population Details: The initial validation sample consisted primarily of university students located in Ecuador and Spain.

Test Methodology: The development and validation involved rigorous psychometric procedures including Test Validity, **Construct Validity**, Convergent Validity, Discriminant Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis (Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis), Measurement Invariance, and Structural Equation Modeling.

Keywords

Affective Connectedness, Behavioral Connectedness, Cognitive Connectedness, Connectedness to Nature, Environmental Attitudes, Cross-Cultural Validation, Psychometrics, Pro-environmental Behavior, Structural Equation Modeling.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Esther Cuadrado: orcid.org/0000-0002-9903-0052; Antonio J. Carpio: orcid.org/0000-0002-6989-970X; Carmen Tabernero: orcid.org/0000-0003-4338-7367.

Affiliation Email addresses: The primary contact email is [email protected] (Esther Cuadrado, University of Cordoba, Department of Psychology).

Correspondence Address: Departamento de psicología, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación y Psicología, Avda San Alberto Magno S/N, Córdoba, Spain, 14071.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Contact Publisher

Commercial: No

Fee: No

Test Year: 2023

Reference’s

Cuadrado, E., Macias-Zambrano, L., Carpio, A. J., & Tabernero, C. (2023). The ABC Connectedness to Nature Scale: Development and validation of a scale with an approach to affective, behavioural, and cognitive aspects. Environmental Education Research, 29(2), 308–329. doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2022.2111407

Items of the ABC Connectedness to Nature Scale (ABC-CNS)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Note: NRS = Nature Relatedness scale; CNS = Connectedness to Nature scale; LCN = Love and Care for Nature scale. Items are rated using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree).