Spanish version of the Dispositional Empathy with Nature scale / Versión española de la escala de Empatía Disposicional hacia la Naturaleza

Abstract

The Dispositional Empathy with Nature scale (DEN) — dispositional tendency to understand and share the emotional experience of the natural world — offers a methodological tool for the study of the affective component of environmental concern. In this paper, the factor structure of the Spanish version of the DEN scale is tested (N = 394). The originally proposed one-factor structure is found using exploratory factor analysis — FACTOR program — with Unweighted Least Squares procedure and optimal implementation of parallel analysis (GFI = .99), along with high internal consistency (α = .93). The Spanish DEN scale shows moderate correlations between environmental concern measures (r = .36 – .44, p < .01) and low-to-moderate correlations with dispositional empathy with humans (r = .30 – .42, p < .05), indicating the distinctiveness of the scale. The Spanish version of the DEN scale is an adequate and reliable instrument for the measurement of empathic tendencies towards nature. Some recommendations regarding its future use are made.