Measuring love and care for nature

This study aimed to develop a psychometrically sound measure of the construct of love and deep caring for nature as an expression of people s personal and explicitly emotional relationship with nature Expert opinion and pre-pilot surveys were employed for refinement of the item pool and a sample of 307 university students was used in a major pilot study aiming to further purify scale items A field trial was conducted using a sample of 261 tourists at leisure with nature The final 15-item Love and Care for Nature (LCN) scale is differentiated from established measures of similar constructs and demonstrates high internal consistency and sound validity This research extends the psychological frameworks of environmental altruism and has also taken the philosophical concept of biophilia as love for nature into the operational realm by making it perceptible and measurable (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved