Pilot 2 (Prolific 13 April 2023)

This is the second pilot study testing the factor structure of the new CTN scale. Pilot data was collected using Prolific on April 13, 2023.

Sample Descriptives

Total sample size was N = 577 . The mean age of sample was 40.56(13.5). Age range: 18 - 84

Political Ideology was scored on a 7-point Likert scale with 1 = Most Conservative and 7 = Most Liberal. The mean political ideology was 4.81(1.7), showing that this sample is skewing slightly more left-leaning.

Gender and ethnoracial demographics are reported in the tables below.

gender	n	Age(mean)	Age(sd)
man	257	39.26	12.68
woman	294	42.56	14.06
trans man	7	32.71	8.67
trans woman	2	31.00	4.24
non-binary	11	27.36	7.53
	6	34.83	9.24

Ethnicity simplified	n
Asian	31
Black	41
Unavailable	16
Mixed	30
Other	18
White	441

Variables

Item_code	Item
AIMES_4	I feel a strong emotional connection to nature
AIMES_1	I feel uneasy if I am away from nature for too long
DISPO_29	Walking through a forest makes me forget about my daily worries
DISPO_21	Thinking of someone carving their initials into a tree makes me cringe
DISPO_22	If one of my plants died, I would blame myself
DISPO_34	Listening to the sounds of nature makes me relax
DISPO_37	Seeing a cleared forest is upsetting to me
DISPO_16	Indoor plants are part of the family
AIMES_8	My relationship with nature is a big part of how I think about myself
AIMES_6	I think of myself as someone who is very concerned about taking care of nature
AIMES_5	I think of myself as an ‘environmentalist’
DISPO_28	My favorite place is in nature
DISPO_8	I watch TV shows where the focus is on animals or plants
DISPO_13	I spend time in local parks
DISPO_18	Even when it is very cold or rainy I go out for a walk
DISPO_33	I prefer outdoor to indoor sports
DISPO_19	I hike or run in nearby nature
DISPO_1	When encountering an animal I mimic their behaviour
DISPO_20	I talk to the wild animals I encounter (e.g., birds, lizards, rabbits, squirrels)
NEW_5	I feel the need to touch plants when I encounter them
DISPO_7	I am careful to not step on snails
DISPO_23	If there is an insect, such as a fly, in my home, I try to catch and release it rather than kill it
DISPO_2	When possible, I take time to watch the sunrise or the sunset without distractions
DISPO_10	I take time to watch the clouds pass by
DISPO_11	I take time to consciously smell flowers
DISPO_12	I consciously watch or listen to birds
DISPO_15	I deliberately take time to watch stars at night
NEW_6	I pay attention to the changing seasons and how this affects nature where I live
NEW_7	I often think about the fact that all life is grounded on this planet that is relvolving around the sun
NEW_8	I am aware of the feelings of nature around me - the sun on my skin, the breeze on my face, or the ground under my feet
NEW_11	When I eat, I feel thankful for the animals, plants, and earth for nourishing me
NEW_12	I pay attention to the current phase of the moon
AIMES_17	My connection to nature is something I would describe as “spiritual”
NEW_1	I like the idea that, when I die, my body will return to the earth, nourishing the soil
NEW_10	I think about the "shared breath" between myself and plants; I breathe in the oxygen released by plants, and plants use the carbon dioxide I exhale.
NEW_2	I view nature as a mother who nurtures and cares for me
SPIRIT_10	I engage and participate with nature to find meaning and richness in life
SPIRIT_12	I have great respect for being alive on this earth and part of the universe
AIMES_20	Human beings and nature are connected by the same "energy" or "Life-force"

Assumption Checks

Correlations between variables

Presented in order of suspected dimensions

Determinant V1

Check on the whether the model will be overdetermined Should aim for a determinant > .00001 (Field et al., 2012)

Our model may be overdetermined. Determinant < 0.00001

With more variables included there is the danger for multi-collinearity. First step is to remove items that have a correlation =>0.8

No items had a high colinearity

Look at other items that might be a problem…

Shared Variance

Ensuring there is shared variance between items (Bartlett’s test of sphericity)

## R was not square, finding R from data

Overall, our data is suitable for factor analysis (p value <.001 are adequate) \(\chi^2\)= 12757.48(703) p = < 0.001

Proportion of Variance

(KMO test) Measures the amount of variance in items

Overall, our data is suitable for factor analysis (overall MSA > 0.8 are adequate). Data MSA = 0.964

No single item is also less than .80

Item	KMO
AIMES_4	0.98
AIMES_1	0.98
DISPO_11	0.98
NEW_7	0.98
DISPO_16	0.97
AIMES_8	0.97
AIMES_6	0.97
DISPO_28	0.97
DISPO_8	0.97
DISPO_12	0.97
NEW_6	0.97
NEW_12	0.97
NEW_1	0.97
NEW_10	0.97
SPIRIT_10	0.97
AIMES_20	0.97
DISPO_29	0.96
DISPO_34	0.96
DISPO_37	0.96
AIMES_5	0.96
DISPO_13	0.96
DISPO_33	0.96
NEW_5	0.96
DISPO_2	0.96
DISPO_10	0.96
NEW_8	0.96
NEW_11	0.96
AIMES_17	0.96
DISPO_20	0.95
DISPO_15	0.95
NEW_2	0.95
SPIRIT_12	0.95
DISPO_21	0.94
DISPO_19	0.94
DISPO_23	0.94
DISPO_22	0.93
DISPO_1	0.93
DISPO_7	0.92

Ceiling and Floor Items

Skewedness

We can also look at the distribution of variables to remove any items that have a high skewedness Presented in order of suspected dimensions

After looking at these, no items appear to be need to be removed. Even though the model may be overdetermined, we will run the EFA

Exploratory Factor Analysis

How many factors can we extract

Scree plot suggest ~3-4 factors Parallel factor suggests 7 factors Based on past samples, we will start at 6 factors

6 Factors

item	PA3	PA1	PA2	PA4	PA5	PA6	cx6
NEW_2	0.936	-0.094	-0.108	-0.181	0.253	0.084	0.628
AIMES_17	0.779	0.201	-0.025	-0.284	0.167	-0.041	0.644
AIMES_20	0.741		-0.043	-0.063	0.067	-0.161	0.536
SPIRIT_12	0.605	0.055	0.117	0.015	-0.326	-0.041	0.526
NEW_10	0.570	-0.091	0.148	0.068	0.187	0.116	0.533
NEW_11	0.545	-0.163	0.307	0.059	0.018	0.036	0.492
NEW_7	0.516	-0.038	0.201	0.037	0.011	0.123	0.431
NEW_1	0.504	0.014	-0.091	0.128	0.084	0.052	0.328
DISPO_16	0.487	-0.097	0.031	0.153	0.285	-0.013	0.475
NEW_8	0.294	0.214	0.159	0.152	-0.226	-0.223	0.556
DISPO_28		0.820		0.053	0.025	-0.027	0.749
DISPO_29	-0.020	0.743	-0.072	0.088	0.069	-0.202	0.636
DISPO_33	-0.012	0.676	-0.028	-0.107	-0.042	0.032	0.334
DISPO_19	-0.173	0.648	0.274	-0.119	0.053	0.190	0.520
AIMES_1	0.253	0.632	-0.109	0.026	0.078	0.055	0.631
DISPO_34	-0.071	0.591	0.057	0.143	0.017	-0.250	0.561
SPIRIT_10	0.434	0.538	-0.031	-0.050	-0.013	-0.016	0.702
AIMES_8	0.470	0.524	-0.070			0.140	0.743
AIMES_4	0.452	0.490	-0.021	0.041	-0.011		0.772
DISPO_13	-0.053	0.482	0.381	-0.201	0.099	0.162	0.499
DISPO_15	-0.113	-0.021	0.847	0.030	0.049	0.064	0.636
DISPO_2	0.070	0.087	0.780	-0.140	-0.068	0.056	0.631
DISPO_10	0.077	-0.011	0.753	-0.094	0.063	-0.135	0.630
NEW_12	0.146	-0.140	0.657		0.077	-0.026	0.488
DISPO_12	-0.089	0.115	0.567	0.232	0.066	-0.089	0.616
DISPO_11	0.160	0.025	0.530	0.071	0.076	-0.012	0.549
DISPO_8	-0.118	0.212	0.262	0.160	0.172		0.306
DISPO_7	-0.101	-0.196	0.088	0.755	-0.041	-0.041	0.395
DISPO_21	-0.069	0.034	-0.053	0.679	-0.017	0.198	0.388
DISPO_37	0.117	0.100	-0.117	0.655	-0.090	0.046	0.514
DISPO_23	-0.098	0.016	-0.031	0.550	0.249	0.158	0.374
DISPO_22	0.048	-0.044	-0.094	0.433	0.150	-0.205	0.272
AIMES_6	0.397	0.197	0.033	0.416	-0.187	0.239	0.745
NEW_6	0.106	0.140	0.170	0.391	-0.128	-0.122	0.485
DISPO_1	0.169		0.122	-0.073	0.506	-0.019	0.377
NEW_5	0.316	0.079	0.073	0.019	0.393	-0.074	0.461
DISPO_20		0.070	0.093	0.271	0.316	-0.141	0.351
AIMES_5	0.399	0.197	-0.040	0.306	-0.092	0.431	0.633

x	PA3	PA1	PA2	PA4	PA5	PA6
SS loadings	5.168	4.277	3.557	2.853	1.126	0.736
Proportion Var	0.136	0.113	0.094	0.075	0.030	0.019
Cumulative Var	0.136	0.249	0.342	0.417	0.447	0.466

5 factors

item	PA3	PA1	PA2	PA4	PA5	cx5
NEW_2	0.980	-0.067	-0.083	-0.154		0.635
AIMES_17	0.737	0.153	0.051	-0.231	0.132	0.628
AIMES_20	0.634	-0.079	0.023	-0.016	0.285	0.515
NEW_10	0.610	-0.022	0.139	0.061	-0.022	0.532
DISPO_16	0.547	-0.113	0.102	0.210	-0.041	0.472
NEW_1	0.491	0.035	-0.095	0.129	0.069	0.329
NEW_11	0.491	-0.102	0.264	0.016	0.169	0.484
NEW_7	0.482	0.054	0.136	-0.016	0.097	0.416
NEW_5	0.409	0.011	0.219	0.129	-0.125	0.426
DISPO_1	0.344	-0.037	0.284	0.050	-0.297	0.333
DISPO_28	-0.046	0.750	0.069	0.094	0.082	0.736
DISPO_19	-0.128	0.724	0.265	-0.145	-0.153	0.517
DISPO_33	-0.059	0.655		-0.100	0.048	0.334
AIMES_1	0.230	0.615	-0.065	0.054	0.029	0.630
AIMES_8	0.421	0.570	-0.090	-0.028	0.085	0.744
DISPO_29	-0.074	0.561	0.078	0.181	0.146	0.567
DISPO_13		0.554	0.383	-0.221	-0.141	0.496
SPIRIT_10	0.336	0.503		-0.038	0.202	0.700
AIMES_4	0.358	0.472		0.043	0.199	0.773
DISPO_34	-0.151	0.416	0.188	0.222	0.209	0.503
AIMES_5	0.382	0.406	-0.193	0.165	-0.027	0.504
AIMES_6	0.297	0.342	-0.107	0.289	0.181	0.677
DISPO_10	0.031	-0.041	0.807	-0.094	0.161	0.634
DISPO_15	-0.090	0.070	0.806	-0.026		0.609
DISPO_2	0.018	0.172	0.716	-0.214	0.127	0.602
NEW_12	0.136	-0.105	0.660	-0.021	0.081	0.485
DISPO_12	-0.120	0.096	0.613	0.238	0.101	0.619
DISPO_11	0.142	0.050	0.542	0.055	0.084	0.548
DISPO_8	-0.067	0.204	0.325	0.194	-0.094	0.306
DISPO_7	-0.140	-0.179	0.052	0.732	0.118	0.392
DISPO_37	0.048	0.135	-0.173	0.616	0.154	0.509
DISPO_21	-0.037	0.150	-0.140	0.605	-0.061	0.352
DISPO_23	0.040	0.086	-0.023	0.573	-0.272	0.378
DISPO_22	0.042	-0.153	0.013	0.508	0.081	0.237
NEW_6	-0.031	0.100	0.166	0.376	0.308	0.488
DISPO_20	0.071	-0.022	0.238	0.370	-0.083	0.312
SPIRIT_12	0.371	0.081	0.014	-0.076	0.496	0.513
NEW_8	0.072	0.122	0.169	0.139	0.491	0.556

x	PA3	PA1	PA2	PA4	PA5
SS loadings	4.575	4.069	3.780	2.775	1.273
Proportion Var	0.120	0.107	0.099	0.073	0.033
Cumulative Var	0.120	0.227	0.327	0.400	0.433

4 factors

item	PA1	PA3	PA2	PA4	cx4
DISPO_28	0.760	-0.044	0.115	0.082	0.732
DISPO_33	0.637	-0.059	0.043	-0.104	0.326
DISPO_29	0.628	-0.054	0.075	0.174	0.571
SPIRIT_10	0.578	0.369		-0.047	0.703
AIMES_1	0.578	0.215	0.017	0.043	0.608
DISPO_19	0.568	-0.166	0.384	-0.141	0.452
AIMES_8	0.561	0.417	-0.022	-0.039	0.731
AIMES_4	0.550	0.387		0.034	0.776
DISPO_34	0.534	-0.108	0.135	0.218	0.494
AIMES_6	0.421	0.321	-0.108	0.281	0.678
NEW_8	0.396	0.193		0.144	0.421
NEW_2	-0.112	0.945		-0.156	0.618
AIMES_17	0.187	0.753	0.073	-0.238	0.633
AIMES_20	0.074	0.681	-0.043	-0.011	0.487
NEW_10	-0.057	0.581	0.202	0.056	0.525
NEW_11	-0.011	0.515	0.226	0.021	0.473
DISPO_16	-0.145	0.513	0.161	0.205	0.464
NEW_7	0.087	0.491	0.146	-0.016	0.417
NEW_1	0.053	0.490	-0.071	0.125	0.329
SPIRIT_12	0.338	0.462	-0.125	-0.049	0.389
NEW_5	-0.068	0.353	0.308	0.121	0.402
AIMES_5	0.341	0.348	-0.088	0.151	0.468
DISPO_15	0.083	-0.100	0.800	-0.019	0.611
DISPO_10	0.081	0.069	0.708	-0.077	0.585
DISPO_2	0.244	0.046	0.667	-0.200	0.584
NEW_12	-0.037	0.148	0.615	-0.013	0.470
DISPO_12	0.181	-0.103	0.566	0.240	0.607
DISPO_11	0.104	0.150	0.522	0.059	0.545
DISPO_13	0.423	-0.044	0.487	-0.215	0.455
DISPO_1	-0.200	0.242	0.417	0.043	0.258
DISPO_8	0.151	-0.103	0.380	0.189	0.297
DISPO_7	-0.065	-0.118	-0.012	0.725	0.381
DISPO_37	0.232	0.070	-0.202	0.610	0.512
DISPO_21	0.120	-0.066	-0.085	0.587	0.336
DISPO_23	-0.051	-0.035	0.112	0.521	0.285
DISPO_22	-0.080	0.052	-0.023	0.507	0.236
NEW_6	0.295	0.046	0.054	0.365	0.437
DISPO_20	-0.053	0.032	0.280	0.365	0.307

x	PA1	PA3	PA2	PA4
SS loadings	4.456	4.597	3.724	2.634
Proportion Var	0.117	0.121	0.098	0.069
Cumulative Var	0.117	0.238	0.336	0.406

Remove items that cross load and fall under the cut-off of .40

item	PA3	PA1	PA2	PA4	cx4S
NEW_2	0.953	-0.130	-0.053	-0.100	0.613
AIMES_17	0.750	0.179	0.046	-0.222	0.621
AIMES_20	0.729	0.067	-0.071	-0.036	0.502
NEW_10	0.592	-0.080	0.179	0.085	0.523
NEW_11	0.558	-0.070	0.220	0.041	0.490
NEW_1	0.519	0.044	-0.095	0.122	0.329
NEW_7	0.516	0.030	0.139	0.026	0.428
SPIRIT_12	0.496	0.255	-0.079	-0.049	0.374
DISPO_16	0.483	-0.131	0.132	0.259	0.461
DISPO_28	-0.038	0.823	0.074	0.058	0.773
DISPO_29	-0.030	0.692	0.025	0.142	0.605
DISPO_33	-0.036	0.661		-0.107	0.335
AIMES_1	0.228	0.593	-0.019	0.046	0.614
DISPO_34	-0.071	0.578	0.104	0.173	0.508
SPIRIT_10	0.403	0.541	-0.010	-0.049	0.687
AIMES_4	0.413	0.537		0.010	0.767
DISPO_19	-0.119	0.512	0.319	-0.080	0.395
AIMES_6	0.335	0.338	-0.048	0.282	0.637
DISPO_15	-0.155	0.037	0.868	0.027	0.653
DISPO_10	0.062	0.059	0.739	-0.081	0.609
DISPO_2	0.011	0.192	0.714	-0.158	0.608
NEW_12	0.124	-0.071	0.658		0.498
DISPO_12	-0.083	0.187	0.580	0.192	0.594
DISPO_11	0.118	0.083	0.545	0.089	0.548
DISPO_1	0.275	-0.113	0.297		0.201
DISPO_7	-0.088	-0.069	0.035	0.668	0.356
DISPO_21	-0.090	0.079	-0.038	0.644	0.385
DISPO_37	0.093	0.202	-0.160	0.588	0.502
DISPO_23	-0.039	-0.039	0.097	0.539	0.296
DISPO_22	0.081	-0.044	-0.041	0.464	0.223

x	PA3	PA1	PA2	PA4
SS loadings	4.369	3.543	3.266	2.099
Proportion Var	0.146	0.118	0.109	0.070
Cumulative Var	0.146	0.264	0.373	0.443

Fit Indices

Comparing the fit of the three models

Sources for fit indices

Model	df	Chi-Sq	RMSEA	RMSEA CI Lower	RMSEA CI Upper	RMSR	TLI	BIC
6-Factor	490	510.444	0.045	0.042	0.049	0.025	0.931	-2,048.046
5-Factor	523	687.638	0.051	0.048	0.055	0.029	0.911	-2,005.843
4-Factor	557	1,031.578	0.058	0.055	0.061	0.036	0.887	-1,907.332
4-Factor Simplified	321	445.720	0.053	0.048	0.057	0.030	0.923	-1,204.230

Final Assumptions