Analyzing Attitudes to Promote Sustainability: The Adaptation of the Environmental Concern Scale (ECs) to the Italian Context

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Environmental Concern scale (ECs) in the Italian context. Three studies were conducted. In Study 1, we carried out an exploratory factor analysis and a 2-factor solution-biospheric concern and egoistic concern—was confirmed. In Study 2, we tested the structure of the eight-items version of the ECs, using confirmatory factor analysis. The 2-factor structure was the best factorial solution. In this study we correlated the dimensions of ECs with life satisfaction and climate change worry. As expected, biospheric concern was significantly related to climate change worry, and egoistic concern was significantly related to life satisfaction. In Study 3, we tested the gender invariance. The ECs structure was the same for men and women. These studies demonstrate that the ECs possess good construct validity, factor structure, and invariance between genders. The measure can be used in the Italian context for future research.