Evaluating the Robustness and Applicability of the Environmental Concerns Scale (ECs) : A Systematic Review

Background and Purpose

Environmental degradation continues to pose severe risks globally, particularly impacting marginalized communities. Understanding environmental concerns is crucial for fostering pro-environmental behaviors that can mitigate these impacts. The Environmental Concerns Scale (ECs) offers a robust tool for assessing environmental attitudes across egoistic, biospheric, and social-altruistic dimensions (Schultz, 2001). This systematic review evaluates the ECs' psychometric properties to validate its effectiveness and applicability in various adult populations, reflecting contemporary environmental challenges.

Methods

Following PRISMA guidelines, this review systematically searched major databases including PsycINFO, Web of Science, and ProQuest, alongside a manual search on Google Scholar to ensure comprehensive coverage. The search targeted studies using the ECs, focusing on adult samples without publication date restrictions. Inclusion criteria emphasized studies analyzing ECs scores quantitatively and reporting in English. Studies were excluded if they focused on marketing purposes, non-environmental concerns, or employed alternative environmental scales. The review process involved meticulous screening, data extraction, and quality assessment using Covidence software, with particular attention to sample diversity, study settings, and the psychometric analysis of the ECs.

Results

This systematic review analyzed 29 studies from 25 peer reviewed articles using the Environmental Concerns Scale (ECs). Initial searches yielded 2317 studies, refined to 471 for full-text review after deduplication and exclusion based on relevance and scope. Of these, 446 were excluded due to issues such as inappropriate study settings, use of alternative scales, and language barriers, leaving 25 pertinent articles. The studies exhibited a wide range of sample sizes, from 76 to 3,612 participants, encompassing diverse demographics including various age groups and gender distributions. Psychometric analysis across the studies affirmed the ECs's robust internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha generally above 0.70. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the scale’s tripartite structure (egoistic, biospheric, social-altruistic concerns), though some studies suggested modifications for cultural adaptability. Factor loadings were strong across egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric items, validating the scale's utility in diverse settings. ECs scores showed strong predictive validity for pro-environmental behaviors and were significantly associated with psychosocial variables like personal values and environmental awareness, emphasizing the scale's effectiveness in environmental attitude assessment.

Conclusions and Implications

The ECs scale demonstrated robust reliability, particularly for egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric concerns, enhancing its credibility as a multidimensional measure of environmental attitudes. Notable variations in scale performance across different cultural contexts suggest the need for adaptations to enhance its applicability internationally, particularly in less researched or non-Western settings. While the ECs scale is effectively employed within academic environments with students, its limited use outside university settings highlights a significant gap. This review underscores the necessity of broadening the scope of ECs research to include more diverse populations, particularly vulnerable groups who are often underrepresented in environmental psychology research. Expanding the use of the ECs scale can provide more comprehensive insights into environmental attitudes across various demographic groups, supporting targeted interventions for sustainability and conservation efforts. Ultimately, extending the scale's application will enhance its utility in formulating policies and practices that foster more sustainable behaviors across the global population.