This is the first pilot study testing the factor structure of the new CTN scale. Pilot data was collected using Prolific on November 8, 2022.

Sample Descriptives

Total sample size was N = 575 . The mean age of sample was 29.61(6.11). Age range: 18 - 44

Political Ideology was scored on a 7-point Likert scale with 1 = Most Conservative and 7 = Most Liberal. The mean political ideology was 5.18(1.55), 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	283	30.21	5.87
woman	256	29.38	6.36
trans man	6	25.17	3.60
trans woman	1	25.00
non-binary	24	27.17	5.37
	5	25.40	6.69

ethnicity	n
Asian	68
Black	40
Mixed	54
Other	38
White	360
	15

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
AIMES_2	I feel right at home when I am in nature
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_32	The noise of crickets gets on my nerves [reversed]
DISPO_37	Seeing a cleared forest is upsetting to me
DISPO_38	I have mourned (or could imagine mourning) the loss of a pet
DISPO_39	It makes me upset to see an animal that was hit by a car
DISPO_16	Indoor plants are part of the family
DISPO_36	Pets 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’
AIMES_7	Protecting nature is an important part of who I am
AIMES_15	Being in nature allows me to do the things I like doing most
AIMES_14	I like to get outdoors whenever I get the chance
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_26	I prefer living in a city [reversed]
DISPO_33	I prefer outdoor to indoor sports
DISPO_19	I hike or run in nearby nature
NEW_4	I would enjoy growing and eating produce from my vegetable garden
DISPO_1	When encountering an animal I mimic their behaviour
DISPO_5	When I am outside on grass, sand, or soil, I often take off my shoes to feel the ground on my feet
DISPO_6	I talk to plants
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_9	I regularly engage in a ritual practice that involves nature (e.g., full moon or solstice rituals)
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"
NEW_3	Every part of nature is sacred

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

Correlations > .80
rowname	colname	value
AIMES_15	AIMES_2	0.80
DISPO_28	AIMES_2	0.81
AIMES_7	AIMES_6	0.82
AIMES_6	AIMES_7	0.82
AIMES_2	AIMES_15	0.80
DISPO_28	AIMES_15	0.80
AIMES_2	DISPO_28	0.81
AIMES_15	DISPO_28	0.80

Legend

green = Being in nature allows me to do the things I like doing most
red = My favorite place is in nature

Removed items with high intercollinearity

Still may be overdetermined… Determinant = < 0.00001

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) \(\chi^2\)= 17044.9(1225) 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 = 0.966

There are a couple of items that are of concern:

Item	KMO
DISPO_32	0.89
DISPO_38	0.82
DISPO_36	0.84

DISPO_32 (The noise of crickets gets on my nerves [reversed])
DISPO_38 (I have mourned (or could imagine mourning) the loss of a pet)
DISPO_36 (Pets are part of the family)

Ceiling and Floor Items

Dispo_34 might have a ceiling effect going on (Listening to the sounds of nature makes me relax)

Celiing effects with

Dispo_38 (I have mourned (or could imagine mourning) the loss of a pet)
Dispo_39 (It makes me upset to see an animal that was hit by a car)
Dispo_36 (Pets are part of the family)

New_9 has a floor effect (I regularly engage in a ritual practice that involves nature (e.g., full moon or solstice rituals))

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

Variables with non-normal distribution (after eyeballing the above graphs)

DISPO_38
- I have mourned (or could imagine mourning) the loss of a pet
DISPO_39
- It makes me upset to see an animal that was hit by a car
DISPO_36
- Pets are part of the family
DISPO_1
- When encountering an animal I mimic their behaviour
DISPO_5
- When I am outside on grass, sand, or soil, I often take off my shoes to feel the ground on my feet
DISPO_6
- I talk to plants
DISPO_7
- I am careful to not step on snails
NEW_9
- I regularly engage in a ritual practice that involves nature (e.g., full moon or solstice rituals)

Removing items of concern…

Still may be overdetermined… Determinant = < 0.00001 But we will look at the EFA anyway

Exploratory Factor Analysis

How many factors can we extract

Scree plot suggest ~3-4 factors Parallel factor suggests 6 factors

6 Factors

item	PA1	PA2	PA3	PA6	PA4	PA5	cx6
NEW_2	0.949		-0.053	-0.145	-0.051	0.068	0.667
AIMES_17	0.893		-0.120		-0.180	0.193	0.642
AIMES_20	0.842	-0.038	-0.208	0.168	-0.116		0.568
NEW_7	0.633	0.308	-0.094	-0.184	0.064	-0.070	0.529
NEW_3	0.607	-0.062	-0.048	0.148	0.170	-0.172	0.536
NEW_10	0.585	0.262	-0.056	-0.146	0.125	-0.029	0.535
NEW_11	0.566	0.297	-0.055	-0.107	0.036	0.046	0.523
AIMES_8	0.562	-0.016	0.297	0.099		0.090	0.781
SPIRIT_12	0.526	0.129		0.241	-0.104	-0.253	0.514
AIMES_4	0.504	-0.061	0.133	0.348		0.126	0.768
AIMES_7	0.482	-0.091	0.318	-0.054	0.371	-0.030	0.764
AIMES_6	0.466	-0.123	0.279	-0.027	0.456	-0.088	0.775
NEW_1	0.455	0.040	0.041	0.075	0.094	0.029	0.400
DISPO_16	0.424	0.170		-0.135	0.183	0.166	0.431
SPIRIT_10	0.388	-0.022	0.362	0.200	0.052	0.034	0.724
DISPO_10	0.042	0.795	0.135	-0.060	-0.089	0.052	0.668
DISPO_15	0.014	0.757	0.152	-0.035	-0.062	0.048	0.634
DISPO_2	0.067	0.682	0.315	-0.064	-0.206	-0.042	0.583
DISPO_11	-0.021	0.580	0.127	0.072	0.059	0.193	0.593
DISPO_12	-0.040	0.564	0.072	0.110	0.092	0.221	0.589
NEW_12	0.214	0.522	-0.027	-0.032	-0.040	0.094	0.415
DISPO_8	0.114	0.501	0.193	-0.104	-0.033	0.078	0.403
DISPO_18	-0.141	0.423	0.351	-0.019	0.057	0.074	0.352
DISPO_5	0.107	0.282	0.133	0.158	-0.051	0.233	0.399
DISPO_19	-0.277	0.312	0.789	0.083		-0.083	0.634
DISPO_13	-0.221	0.362	0.666	0.047	0.064	-0.138	0.545
AIMES_14	0.125	0.057	0.513	0.388	-0.098	-0.107	0.701
AIMES_15	0.320	-0.039	0.463	0.303	-0.052	-0.037	0.757
DISPO_33		0.062	0.380	0.316	-0.059	-0.053	0.360
DISPO_34	0.059	0.144	0.054	0.626	-0.059	-0.171	0.543
DISPO_29		0.037	0.257	0.515	0.090		0.572
DISPO_28	0.251	-0.034	0.281	0.509	-0.078	0.066	0.740
AIMES_2	0.350	-0.049	0.321	0.488	-0.091		0.843
NEW_8	0.073	0.274	-0.049	0.465	0.084	-0.018	0.536
DISPO_26	-0.050	-0.059	0.034	0.439	-0.037	0.057	0.158
DISPO_32	-0.121	-0.112	0.020	0.398	0.153		0.144
NEW_6	0.059	0.291	-0.060	0.392	0.211	-0.147	0.554
AIMES_1	0.294	-0.022	0.268	0.343	-0.064	0.198	0.667
NEW_4	0.204	0.159	-0.066	0.246	0.145		0.348
DISPO_21	-0.048	-0.069	0.230	-0.153	0.593		0.315
DISPO_37	0.052	-0.060	0.047	0.288	0.565	-0.112	0.569
AIMES_5	0.320	-0.094	0.379	-0.202	0.513		0.661
DISPO_22	0.039	-0.072	-0.198	0.154	0.468	0.079	0.265
DISPO_7	-0.102	0.180		0.102	0.429	0.140	0.341
DISPO_23	0.029	0.112	-0.017	0.046	0.284	0.194	0.230
DISPO_20	-0.172	0.438	-0.155	0.099	0.318	0.465	0.587
DISPO_1	0.046	0.328	-0.132	-0.090	0.146	0.441	0.356
NEW_5	0.204	0.301	0.011	0.058	0.065	0.346	0.508

x	PA1	PA2	PA3	PA6	PA4	PA5
SS loadings	6.549	4.362	3.140	3.068	2.265	1.119
Proportion Var	0.136	0.091	0.065	0.064	0.047	0.023
Cumulative Var	0.136	0.227	0.293	0.357	0.404	0.427

5 factors

item	PA1	PA3	PA2	PA4	PA5	cx5
NEW_2	0.860	0.055	-0.012	-0.012	-0.154	0.667
AIMES_20	0.765	0.011	-0.058	-0.108	0.133	0.561
AIMES_17	0.757	0.110	0.030	-0.054	-0.107	0.594
NEW_7	0.622	-0.186	0.277		0.017	0.512
NEW_3	0.586	0.031	-0.105	0.069	0.218	0.522
NEW_10	0.570	-0.124	0.239	0.081	0.013	0.525
NEW_11	0.536	-0.073	0.287	0.040		0.523
SPIRIT_12	0.518	0.109	0.082	-0.243	0.288	0.499
AIMES_7	0.441	0.330	-0.093	0.341	-0.069	0.743
AIMES_6	0.440	0.268	-0.135	0.385		0.735
NEW_1	0.414	0.134	0.034	0.104	0.047	0.401
DISPO_16	0.380	-0.011	0.179	0.258	-0.101	0.432
DISPO_19	-0.252	0.751	0.338	-0.048	-0.071	0.594
AIMES_14	0.091	0.732	0.067	-0.142	0.143	0.701
AIMES_15	0.258	0.703	-0.024	-0.055	0.047	0.759
AIMES_2	0.278	0.658	-0.037	-0.071	0.194	0.835
DISPO_28	0.179	0.625	-0.013	-0.019	0.196	0.718
AIMES_1	0.203	0.575	0.020	0.064	0.028	0.625
DISPO_13	-0.173	0.567	0.365	-0.027		0.486
SPIRIT_10	0.322	0.556		0.081		0.725
DISPO_33	-0.018	0.545	0.073	-0.078	0.122	0.361
DISPO_29	-0.024	0.498	0.041	0.099	0.304	0.571
AIMES_8	0.476	0.490		0.068	-0.089	0.780
AIMES_4	0.411	0.440	-0.042	0.081	0.110	0.743
DISPO_26	-0.075	0.273	-0.050		0.240	0.138
DISPO_10	0.068		0.801	-0.106	0.062	0.664
DISPO_15	0.042	0.033	0.762	-0.079	0.072	0.629
DISPO_2	0.087	0.215	0.687	-0.256		0.569
DISPO_11	-0.026	0.111	0.602	0.133	0.071	0.592
DISPO_12	-0.044	0.073	0.586	0.178	0.105	0.584
NEW_12	0.211	-0.074	0.526	-0.019	0.055	0.416
DISPO_8	0.114	0.115	0.516	-0.019	-0.062	0.403
DISPO_18	-0.131	0.285	0.447	0.074	-0.046	0.350
DISPO_1		-0.114	0.367	0.350	-0.117	0.295
NEW_5	0.143	0.120	0.337	0.238	-0.046	0.466
DISPO_5	0.060	0.269	0.315	0.072		0.374
DISPO_21	-0.017	0.071	-0.072	0.552	-0.057	0.274
DISPO_20	-0.172	-0.126	0.468	0.511	0.073	0.516
DISPO_22	0.046	-0.190	-0.095	0.496	0.230	0.270
DISPO_7	-0.091	-0.046	0.178	0.480	0.154	0.345
AIMES_5	0.300	0.281	-0.086	0.476	-0.160	0.614
DISPO_37	0.088	0.060	-0.096	0.469	0.355	0.537
DISPO_23	0.010		0.124	0.375	0.035	0.228
DISPO_34	0.066	0.284	0.113	-0.154	0.532	0.546
NEW_6	0.101	-0.021	0.245	0.103	0.488	0.541
NEW_8	0.079	0.098	0.252	0.058	0.441	0.536
DISPO_32	-0.125	0.185	-0.118	0.163	0.280	0.140
NEW_4	0.199	0.013	0.140	0.129	0.267	0.349

x	PA1	PA3	PA2	PA4	PA5
SS loadings	5.366	5.242	4.521	2.531	1.644
Proportion Var	0.112	0.109	0.094	0.053	0.034
Cumulative Var	0.112	0.221	0.315	0.368	0.402

4 factors

item	PA1	PA3	PA2	PA4	cx4
NEW_2	0.909	-0.055		-0.089	0.664
AIMES_17	0.797	0.026	0.032	-0.113	0.593
AIMES_20	0.758	0.086	-0.105	-0.040	0.529
NEW_7	0.623	-0.195	0.255	0.024	0.502
NEW_3	0.586	0.148	-0.148	0.151	0.496
NEW_10	0.583	-0.141	0.228	0.090	0.523
NEW_11	0.548	-0.106	0.285	0.037	0.522
AIMES_8	0.535	0.395	0.057	-0.044	0.752
AIMES_7	0.507	0.248	-0.039	0.228	0.702
AIMES_6	0.501	0.233	-0.099	0.308	0.713
SPIRIT_12	0.478	0.270	0.025	-0.103	0.418
NEW_1	0.439	0.137	0.036	0.095	0.402
DISPO_16	0.416	-0.102	0.209	0.190	0.421
AIMES_5	0.377	0.146		0.307	0.522
AIMES_14	0.117	0.779	0.100	-0.170	0.703
AIMES_2	0.305	0.738	-0.024	-0.072	0.837
DISPO_28	0.204	0.706		-0.019	0.720
AIMES_15	0.306	0.689	0.020	-0.127	0.749
DISPO_29	-0.019	0.641	0.047	0.154	0.567
DISPO_19	-0.197	0.640	0.427	-0.172	0.538
DISPO_33		0.589	0.100	-0.093	0.362
DISPO_34	0.038	0.553	0.055	0.046	0.412
AIMES_1	0.249	0.549	0.067		0.611
DISPO_13	-0.145	0.513	0.434	-0.105	0.469
SPIRIT_10	0.375	0.513	0.040		0.708
AIMES_4	0.449	0.470	-0.029	0.061	0.744
DISPO_26	-0.086	0.404	-0.063	0.076	0.130
DISPO_32	-0.133	0.339	-0.135	0.246	0.132
NEW_8	0.051	0.325	0.206	0.218	0.455
DISPO_10	0.043		0.821	-0.077	0.652
DISPO_15	0.017	0.033	0.783	-0.050	0.620
DISPO_2	0.075	0.170	0.724	-0.275	0.569
DISPO_11	-0.030	0.103	0.642	0.133	0.593
DISPO_12	-0.053	0.086	0.620	0.195	0.585
DISPO_8	0.122	0.039	0.559	-0.065	0.402
NEW_12	0.196	-0.071	0.528	0.012	0.407
DISPO_18	-0.113	0.213	0.508		0.338
DISPO_1	0.027	-0.215	0.414	0.282	0.275
NEW_5	0.171	0.049	0.383	0.179	0.456
DISPO_5	0.075	0.235	0.356	0.032	0.370
DISPO_22	0.044	-0.068	-0.121	0.582	0.269
DISPO_37	0.093	0.241	-0.118	0.568	0.525
DISPO_20	-0.174	-0.129	0.508	0.518	0.517
DISPO_7	-0.087	0.010	0.194	0.513	0.348
DISPO_21	0.038		-0.016	0.454	0.224
DISPO_23	0.026		0.150	0.359	0.224
NEW_6	0.070	0.239	0.185	0.284	0.427
NEW_4	0.186	0.149	0.111	0.226	0.322

x	PA1	PA3	PA2	PA4
SS loadings	5.878	5.890	5.055	2.513
Proportion Var	0.122	0.123	0.105	0.052
Cumulative Var	0.122	0.245	0.350	0.403

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

item	PA1	PA3	PA2	PA4	cx4S
AIMES_2	0.874	0.122	-0.018	-0.050	0.855
AIMES_14	0.850	-0.011	0.064	-0.103	0.688
DISPO_28	0.828	0.039	0.013	-0.010	0.737
AIMES_15	0.814	0.127		-0.071	0.760
DISPO_29	0.709	-0.154	0.052	0.193	0.573
AIMES_1	0.642	0.146	0.044		0.609
DISPO_33	0.620	-0.059	0.060	-0.056	0.346
DISPO_34	0.592	-0.059	0.091	0.042	0.404
SPIRIT_10	0.592	0.256	0.024	0.037	0.698
AIMES_8	0.492	0.400	0.050		0.744
AIMES_7	0.337	0.331		0.297	0.702
NEW_2	0.036	0.836	-0.031	-0.049	0.656
AIMES_20	0.140	0.758	-0.122	-0.065	0.554
AIMES_17	0.129	0.740		-0.121	0.588
NEW_7	-0.196	0.635	0.267	0.031	0.527
NEW_10	-0.117	0.575	0.239	0.080	0.532
NEW_11	-0.046	0.541	0.289	-0.019	0.518
NEW_3	0.198	0.517	-0.151	0.192	0.509
SPIRIT_12	0.299	0.473		-0.105	0.426
DISPO_16	-0.049	0.370	0.206	0.197	0.414
NEW_1	0.216	0.364	0.022	0.111	0.403
DISPO_10	0.035	-0.020	0.873	-0.104	0.685
DISPO_15	0.017		0.837	-0.075	0.656
DISPO_2	0.186	0.038	0.707	-0.241	0.549
DISPO_12	0.100	-0.079	0.665	0.144	0.590
DISPO_11	0.133	-0.034	0.624	0.089	0.559
NEW_12	-0.060	0.185	0.570	-0.030	0.422
DISPO_8	0.050	0.104	0.566	-0.065	0.405
DISPO_18	0.210	-0.140	0.491	0.040	0.326
DISPO_1	-0.154	0.056	0.385	0.200	0.225
DISPO_37	0.263	-0.027	-0.074	0.623	0.541
DISPO_21	-0.010	-0.070		0.600	0.301
DISPO_22	-0.093	0.067	-0.107	0.559	0.254
DISPO_7	0.013	-0.093	0.215	0.472	0.318
AIMES_6	0.315	0.330	-0.063	0.374	0.713

x	PA1	PA3	PA2	PA4
SS loadings	5.777	4.231	4.215	1.852
Proportion Var	0.165	0.121	0.120	0.053
Cumulative Var	0.165	0.286	0.406	0.459

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	855	758.654	0.040	0.037	0.043	0.024	0.937	-3,779.411
5-Factor	898	988.911	0.046	0.044	0.049	0.028	0.918	-3,703.282
4-Factor	942	1,427.496	0.053	0.051	0.056	0.033	0.892	-3,516.750
4-Factor Simplified	461	505.735	0.050	0.046	0.054	0.027	0.932	-1,806.654

Final Assumptions