Assessing the Unidimensionality of Clayton’s Environmental Identity Scale Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Bifactor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (bifactor-ESEM)

• Autor(a) principal: Moreira, Paulo
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Loureiro, Ana Luisa Cardoso Marques Teixeira, Inman, Richard, Olivos-Jara, Pablo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10437/12510
• topic: BIFACTOR MODEL; PSYCHOLOGY; PSYCHOMETRICS; ECOLOGY; ESEM; PSICOLOGIA; PSICOMETRIA; ECOLOGIA

A relevant intrapersonal characteristic for understanding intentions and behavior toward environmental sustainability is the degree to which nature is important for a person’s self-definition. Clayton’s Environmental Identity (EID) scale purports to measure this construct. However, a limited number of prior exploratory studies of this measure have supported different factor structures. Hence, our initial aim was to develop an understanding of the dimensionality of Clayton’s 24-item EID scale by testing competing latent structures using confirmatory factor analysis. We analyzed self-reported data from 458 adults (Mage = 26.7 years; 81% female). Four a priori models (a first-order model, a second-order model, a unidimensional model, and a bifactor model) did not show satisfactory fit to the data. An ancillary analysis using bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling (bifactor-ESEM) indicated a bifactor model with three specific factors had a good fit to the data. The factor loadings of this model and values for bifactor indices (Omega Hierarchical and Explained Common Variance [ECV]) indicated a single mean score across all EID scale items taps into an essentially unidimensional construct and is therefore appropriate to interpret. In sum, our study provides a critical insight into the dimensionality of Clayton’s EID scale that will be valuable when applying this measure for research and intervention purposes.