Structural confirmation of the 24-item Environmental Attitude Inventory / Confirmación estructural del Inventario de Actitudes Ambientales de 24 ítems

Abstract

Abstract Despite an ever-increasing use of the Environmental Attitude Inventory (EAI), few studies have aimed at checking the dimensional structure of its 24-item version and particularly the structure of the subdimensions and its two main dimensions: utilization and preservation of the environment. Structural analyses confirmed the strength of the structure. Pro-environmental behaviours can be predicted by this scale, mainly through the dimension of preservation. Lastly, two of the ideological and emotional subdimensions of preservation appeared not to be highly specific in the French context of our study: environmental movement activism and ecocentrism, which cover ecological behaviour and the support for interventionist conservation policies. If the objective of the scale is not to study those two dimensions, we suggest a shorter version of the EAI, more balanced, coherent and structured into 20 items comprising 10 clearly distinct subdimensions.