This is the third pilot study testing the factor structure of the new CTN scale. Pilot data was collected using SONA from February - April 2023

Sample Descriptives

Total sample size was N = 485 . The mean age of sample was 20.37(2.38). Age range: 18 - 42

Political Ideology was scored on a 7-point Likert scale with 1 = Most Conservative and 7 = Most Liberal. The mean political ideology was 5.02(1.14), showing that this sample is skewing slightly more left-leaning.

SES was scored using the SES Ladder, with 1 being the worst off, and 10 being the best off. Mean sample was 5.72(1.48).

Gender and ethnoracial demographics are reported in the tables below.

gender	n	Age(mean)	Age(sd)
man	113	20.75	2.97
woman	360	20.27	2.19
trans woman	1	20.00
non-binary	9	19.56	0.73
	2	20.50	0.71

##  num [1:485] 3 2 2 8 3 2 1 3 2 3 ...

ethnoracial	n
Asian	187
White	89
Hispanic/Latinx	130
Black	9
Middle Eastern	18
Pacific Islander	2
First Nation/Indigenous	1
Mixed	46
No response	3

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_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) \(\chi^2\)= 8385.44(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 = 0.948

No single item is also less than .80

Item	KMO
AIMES_4	0.97
SPIRIT_10	0.97
AIMES_1	0.96
AIMES_8	0.96
DISPO_11	0.96
DISPO_12	0.96
NEW_6	0.96
NEW_8	0.96
NEW_11	0.96
AIMES_17	0.96
NEW_1	0.96
DISPO_29	0.95
DISPO_34	0.95
AIMES_6	0.95
AIMES_5	0.95
DISPO_28	0.95
DISPO_8	0.95
DISPO_13	0.95
DISPO_10	0.95
NEW_7	0.95
NEW_12	0.95
NEW_10	0.95
NEW_2	0.95
SPIRIT_12	0.95
AIMES_20	0.95
DISPO_19	0.94
NEW_5	0.94
DISPO_37	0.93
DISPO_16	0.93
DISPO_20	0.93
DISPO_23	0.93
DISPO_2	0.93
DISPO_15	0.93
DISPO_33	0.90
DISPO_1	0.89
DISPO_21	0.88
DISPO_22	0.87
DISPO_7	0.87

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 6 factors Based on past samples, we will start at 6 factors

6 Factors

item	PA1	PA4	PA3	PA5	PA2	PA6	cx6
NEW_2	0.887	-0.029	-0.049	0.107	-0.134	-0.133	0.593
AIMES_17	0.877	0.037	-0.041	0.026	-0.204	-0.067	0.565
AIMES_8	0.737	0.247	-0.036	0.109	-0.313	0.090	0.704
AIMES_20	0.721	0.141		-0.224	0.100	-0.170	0.527
AIMES_6	0.648		-0.096	0.020	0.019	0.247	0.569
AIMES_5	0.640	-0.074	-0.053	0.120	-0.071	0.183	0.488
AIMES_4	0.574	0.393	-0.040	0.141	-0.123	-0.043	0.708
SPIRIT_10	0.539	0.271		0.023	-0.115	0.186	0.637
NEW_1	0.531	-0.069	0.056	-0.016	0.222	-0.109	0.401
NEW_11	0.505	-0.215	0.058	0.026	0.259	0.194	0.529
NEW_7	0.451	-0.131	0.130	-0.032	0.148	0.027	0.318
NEW_10	0.423		0.018	0.076	0.137	0.016	0.340
AIMES_1	0.408	0.380	-0.044	0.138	-0.108	0.082	0.560
DISPO_29	-0.082	0.720	0.033	0.239	-0.105	-0.039	0.541
DISPO_28	0.065	0.650	0.070	0.045	-0.075	0.138	0.618
DISPO_34	-0.052	0.557	0.084	0.048	0.191	-0.083	0.473
DISPO_33	0.016	0.555	-0.066	-0.152	-0.045	0.174	0.311
NEW_8	0.015	0.413	0.144	-0.071	0.210		0.396
DISPO_15	-0.088	0.048	0.855	0.099	-0.227	0.043	0.605
DISPO_10		0.025	0.672	0.159	-0.065	0.025	0.548
DISPO_2	-0.071	0.153	0.658	-0.207	-0.084	0.235	0.501
DISPO_11	0.029		0.480	0.261	0.071	0.031	0.522
NEW_12	0.325	-0.157	0.453	0.035		-0.045	0.382
DISPO_12	-0.109	0.015	0.357	0.338	0.201	0.093	0.509
DISPO_1	0.054	-0.106	0.111	0.645	-0.084	-0.033	0.410
DISPO_20	0.017	-0.026	0.020	0.583	0.212	-0.130	0.471
DISPO_8	0.067	-0.038	0.103	0.404	0.021	0.255	0.416
NEW_5	0.131	0.175	0.148	0.327	0.017	-0.123	0.348
DISPO_23	0.019	0.103	-0.089	0.249	0.115	0.116	0.169
DISPO_21		0.093	-0.149	0.238	0.198	0.032	0.143
DISPO_22	-0.021		-0.196	0.071	0.696	-0.042	0.385
DISPO_7	-0.178	-0.128	-0.020	0.078	0.655	0.066	0.312
DISPO_37	-0.062	0.208	0.016	0.089	0.461		0.382
NEW_6	0.180	0.157	0.136	-0.077	0.329	0.026	0.416
SPIRIT_12	0.202	0.238	0.044	-0.301	0.317	0.044	0.337
DISPO_16	0.131	-0.023	0.023	0.209	0.269	-0.016	0.258
DISPO_19	-0.062	0.304	0.122	-0.094		0.546	0.514
DISPO_13		0.096	0.204	0.057	0.069	0.504	0.534

x	PA1	PA4	PA3	PA5	PA2	PA6
SS loadings	5.456	2.617	2.453	1.803	2.096	1.049
Proportion Var	0.144	0.069	0.065	0.047	0.055	0.028
Cumulative Var	0.144	0.212	0.277	0.324	0.380	0.407

5 factors

item	PA1	PA4	PA3	PA5	PA2	cx5
NEW_2	0.876	-0.084	-0.117	0.095	-0.079	0.583
AIMES_17	0.867	0.017	-0.087	0.018	-0.165	0.560
AIMES_8	0.729	0.293	-0.037	0.115	-0.302	0.707
AIMES_20	0.704	0.068	-0.069	-0.245	0.182	0.504
AIMES_6	0.643	0.119	0.014	0.057	-0.079	0.526
AIMES_5	0.639	0.020	0.026	0.147	-0.145	0.465
AIMES_4	0.556	0.366	-0.101	0.129	-0.042	0.694
SPIRIT_10	0.536	0.356	0.050	0.039	-0.139	0.634
NEW_1	0.531	-0.126	0.019	-0.030	0.259	0.401
NEW_11	0.510	-0.117	0.163	0.062	0.152	0.487
NEW_7	0.458	-0.127	0.155	-0.033	0.133	0.319
NEW_10	0.426		0.026	0.079	0.134	0.341
DISPO_28	0.048	0.703	0.068	0.046	-0.023	0.622
DISPO_29	-0.089	0.655	-0.046	0.208	0.029	0.493
DISPO_33		0.641	-0.036	-0.144	-0.039	0.315
DISPO_19	-0.023	0.514	0.313	-0.033	-0.141	0.401
DISPO_34	-0.061	0.486		0.024	0.303	0.443
AIMES_1	0.399	0.414	-0.052	0.144	-0.081	0.561
NEW_8		0.393	0.114	-0.085	0.280	0.390
DISPO_15	-0.090	0.023	0.814	0.074	-0.128	0.558
DISPO_2	-0.074	0.229	0.742	-0.214	-0.082	0.508
DISPO_10			0.655	0.139		0.531
DISPO_11	0.026	-0.034	0.481	0.253	0.113	0.519
NEW_12	0.323	-0.202	0.432	0.017	0.043	0.374
DISPO_12	-0.109	0.018	0.389	0.348	0.204	0.511
DISPO_13	0.034	0.299	0.388	0.109	-0.076	0.431
DISPO_1	0.052	-0.149	0.080	0.658	-0.064	0.411
DISPO_20	0.013	-0.113	-0.045	0.586	0.261	0.466
DISPO_8	0.080	0.060	0.202	0.433	-0.061	0.386
NEW_5	0.121	0.091	0.069	0.304	0.112	0.324
DISPO_23	0.023	0.149	-0.046	0.271	0.076	0.161
DISPO_21		0.101	-0.139	0.254	0.182	0.141
DISPO_22	-0.013	-0.022	-0.185	0.085	0.667	0.375
DISPO_7	-0.159	-0.106	0.043	0.104	0.574	0.280
DISPO_37	-0.064	0.189	0.012	0.090	0.485	0.385
NEW_6	0.180	0.154	0.144	-0.082	0.350	0.417
SPIRIT_12	0.201	0.257	0.063	-0.308	0.328	0.337
DISPO_16	0.133	-0.046	0.023	0.216	0.270	0.258

x	PA1	PA4	PA3	PA5	PA2
SS loadings	5.348	2.981	2.715	1.870	2.057
Proportion Var	0.141	0.078	0.071	0.049	0.054
Cumulative Var	0.141	0.219	0.291	0.340	0.394

4 factors

item	PA1	PA3	PA4	PA2	cx4
NEW_2	0.914	-0.112	-0.085	-0.045	0.584
AIMES_17	0.909	-0.094		-0.174	0.561
AIMES_8	0.836	0.020	0.197	-0.254	0.690
AIMES_5	0.701	0.069	-0.018	-0.089	0.466
AIMES_6	0.683	0.024	0.108	-0.067	0.528
AIMES_4	0.639	-0.059	0.299	0.023	0.684
AIMES_20	0.605	-0.170	0.196	0.042	0.430
SPIRIT_10	0.600	0.074	0.312	-0.134	0.633
AIMES_1	0.492		0.327		0.542
NEW_11	0.469	0.149	-0.034	0.158	0.466
NEW_1	0.456	-0.032	-0.011	0.225	0.360
NEW_10	0.419	0.024	0.033	0.164	0.337
NEW_7	0.395	0.113	-0.024	0.091	0.286
DISPO_15	-0.122	0.871	0.071	-0.152	0.553
DISPO_10	-0.035	0.716	0.036	0.029	0.530
DISPO_2	-0.143	0.684	0.326	-0.236	0.454
DISPO_11	0.022	0.563	-0.015	0.212	0.524
DISPO_12	-0.091	0.495		0.364	0.510
DISPO_13	0.067	0.448	0.274	-0.046	0.429
NEW_12	0.258	0.417	-0.097	0.011	0.339
DISPO_8	0.186	0.345	-0.043	0.150	0.341
DISPO_1	0.195	0.275	-0.274	0.261	0.287
DISPO_28	0.131	0.112	0.615		0.598
DISPO_33	0.044	-0.057	0.604	-0.107	0.317
DISPO_29	0.042	0.052	0.502	0.148	0.419
DISPO_34	-0.060		0.494	0.328	0.445
DISPO_19	0.014	0.342	0.478	-0.178	0.401
NEW_8	-0.035	0.075	0.453	0.233	0.385
SPIRIT_12	0.096	-0.055	0.389	0.153	0.265
DISPO_22	-0.087	-0.228	0.080	0.731	0.359
DISPO_7	-0.241	0.021		0.629	0.260
DISPO_20	0.108	0.111	-0.190	0.557	0.404
DISPO_37	-0.105		0.251	0.544	0.384
DISPO_16	0.136	0.056	-0.033	0.386	0.262
DISPO_21	0.066	-0.075	0.043	0.330	0.125
NEW_6	0.104	0.086	0.266	0.291	0.385
NEW_5	0.181	0.156	0.040	0.267	0.311
DISPO_23	0.099	0.036	0.071	0.224	0.137

x	PA1	PA3	PA4	PA2
SS loadings	5.844	3.222	2.678	2.839
Proportion Var	0.154	0.085	0.070	0.075
Cumulative Var	0.154	0.239	0.309	0.384

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

item	PA1	PA4	PA3	PA2	cx4S
NEW_2	0.890	-0.101	-0.086	-0.022	0.583
AIMES_17	0.887	-0.034	-0.061	-0.144	0.569
AIMES_8	0.783	0.220	0.020	-0.240	0.697
AIMES_5	0.672	-0.026	0.067	-0.047	0.457
AIMES_6	0.671	0.071	0.047	-0.048	0.527
AIMES_20	0.632	0.071	-0.111	0.091	0.441
AIMES_4	0.630	0.313	-0.090	0.051	0.700
SPIRIT_10	0.577	0.306	0.071	-0.118	0.636
NEW_1	0.503	-0.103		0.243	0.381
NEW_11	0.497	-0.088	0.166	0.172	0.467
AIMES_1	0.479	0.367	-0.025	-0.021	0.549
NEW_10	0.403	0.047	0.048	0.133	0.313
DISPO_28	0.095	0.688	0.049	0.017	0.631
DISPO_33		0.657	-0.102	-0.085	0.326
DISPO_29	0.020	0.605	-0.011	0.115	0.450
DISPO_34	-0.044	0.522	-0.020	0.308	0.449
DISPO_19		0.495	0.300	-0.153	0.407
NEW_8		0.412	0.076	0.214	0.359
DISPO_15	-0.088	-0.015	0.857	-0.083	0.564
DISPO_10	0.016	-0.050	0.730	0.049	0.549
DISPO_2	-0.115	0.199	0.719	-0.195	0.471
DISPO_11	0.082	-0.046	0.535	0.218	0.510
DISPO_12	-0.013		0.448	0.367	0.501
NEW_12	0.302	-0.197	0.447	0.040	0.358
DISPO_13	0.076	0.282	0.393	-0.024	0.421
DISPO_22		0.047	-0.181	0.653	0.346
DISPO_7	-0.145	-0.056	0.027	0.617	0.293
DISPO_20	0.146	-0.067	0.039	0.497	0.343
DISPO_37	-0.034	0.225	0.017	0.485	0.369

x	PA1	PA4	PA3	PA2
SS loadings	5.297	2.599	2.844	1.921
Proportion Var	0.183	0.090	0.098	0.066
Cumulative Var	0.183	0.272	0.370	0.437

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	584.636	0.043	0.039	0.047	0.029	0.917	-2,100.851
5-Factor	523	711.451	0.046	0.043	0.051	0.032	0.903	-2,162.265
4-Factor	557	962.383	0.052	0.048	0.055	0.038	0.881	-2,167.018
4-Factor Simplified	296	399.273	0.051	0.046	0.056	0.032	0.918	-1,163.467

Final Assumptions