Social Science Research 42 (2013) 1542–1554

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Social Science Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ssresearch

Are environmental attitudes influenced by survey context?

An investigation of the context dependency of the New
Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale q
Elizabeth F. Pienaar a,⇑, Daniel K. Lew b,c,1, Kristy Wallmo d,e,2
a
Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, USA
b
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, USA
c
Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, USA
d
Office of Science and Technology, National Marine Fisheries Service, USA
e
University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: General environmental attitudes are often measured with questions added to surveys
Received 7 September 2012 about specific environmental or non-environmental issues. Using results from a large-scale
Revised 26 June 2013 national survey on the protection of threatened and endangered marine species, we exam-
Accepted 1 July 2013
ine whether the context of the survey in which New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale items
Available online 13 July 2013
are asked influence measured environmental concern. In this application the role that spe-
cific threatened or endangered species play in affecting responses to NEP Scale items is
Keywords:
explored using a combination of non-parametric and parametric approaches. The results
Environmental attitudes
New Ecological Paradigm Scale
in this case suggest that context does influence stated general environmental attitudes,
Survey context though the effects of context differ across NEP items.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

In recent decades researchers from several disciplines have sought to understand determinants of environmental atti-
tudes, how these attitudes vary across time and individuals, and how environmental attitudes affect behavior. Environmen-
tal attitudes are generally measured using responses to sets of survey questions. There are several well-established
environmental attitude measures, including the New Environmental Paradigm Scale (Dunlap and Van Liere, 1978), the
New Ecological Paradigm Scale (Dunlap et al., 2000), the ecocentric and anthropocentric scales developed by Gagnon Thomp-
son and Barton (1994), and the Connectedness to Nature Scale (Mayer and Frantz, 2004).
Questions used to generate measures of environmental concern3 are often applied in surveys in isolation or together with
questions about more specific environmental issues. The latter often occurs in surveys involving environmental behavior for which
environmental concern is expected to be a useful explanatory variable (e.g., Aldrich et al., 2007; Kotchen and Reiling, 2000). When

q
Senior authorship is shared between Pienaar and Lew.
⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, PO
Box 110430, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. Fax: +1 352 392 6984.
E-mail addresses: efpienaar@ufl.edu (E.F. Pienaar), Dan.Lew@noaa.gov (D.K. Lew), kristy.wallmo@noaa.gov (K. Wallmo).
1
Address: Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, USA. Fax: +1 530 752 3350.
2
Address: Office of Science and Technology, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA.
3
In common with Fransson and Gärling (1999), we hereafter use an inclusive definition of environmental concern, which encompasses specific attitudes that
directly determine intentions and environmental behavior, as well as general attitudes or value orientations. ‘‘[B]oth specific attitudes towards behaviors and
general value orientations are likely to play important roles as behavioral determinants, although possibly at different stages in the process of changing and
implementing a behavior’’ (Fransson and Gärling, 1999: 370).

0049-089X/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2013.07.001
 E.F. Pienaar et al. / Social Science Research 42 (2013) 1542–1554 1543

included in surveys for which the central focus is not on general environmental concern, a natural question to ask is the following:
Are responses to questions used in measuring environmental concern influenced by the context of the survey? By ‘‘context’’ we
refer to the characteristics of the survey in which questions relating to environmental concern appear. If responses to the individual
questions that are used to create a general measure of environmental concern depend on survey context, then survey context will
alter estimated measures of environmental concern, and related conclusions about environmental behavior.
The New Environmental Paradigm Scale and the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale are the most widely used measures
of environmental concern (Hawcroft and Milfont, 2010; Dunlap, 2008a; Amburgey and Thoman, 2012), and are utilized by
researchers from multiple disciplines to study environmental attitudes (Cordano et al., 2003; Lundmark, 2007). Given the
wide, multidisciplinary use of the NEP Scale,4 we focus on whether responses to items included in this scale are context depen-
dent. Specifically, we examine whether responses to items included in the NEP Scale are influenced by information presented in
a survey focused on the protection of threatened and endangered marine species.5 The survey was composed of 27 different
versions, which included different combinations of eight marine species. With the exception of the species included in the sur-
vey, these survey versions are identical. To test for systematic differences in responses to NEP items, we conduct an analysis that
controls for differences in the context of each survey (i.e., the specific species included on the survey), demographic variables
and opinions about government spending that may differ between samples. The approach employs the combined use of non-
parametric (Mann–Whitney U tests) and parametric statistical methods (logit models).
Our results suggest that survey context, as defined here, does influence responses to individual NEP items even when con-
trolling for differences in respondent characteristics. There is also evidence that the extent to which responses to NEP items
are affected by survey context differs across individual items and is not restricted to charismatic species.6
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we review past research on the context-dependency of
attitudinal measures. Section 3 discusses the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale. Section 4 provides an overview of the
data used in our empirical analysis. Section 5 explains the approach used to identify the role of context dependence of ques-
tions relating to environmental concern. Section 6 describes the results from a first stage non-parametric analysis of differ-
ences in responses to individual NEP Scale items across survey versions. Section 7 presents results from statistical tests to
identify sample differences between the survey versions. Section 8 enumerates the second stage parametric model used
to assess whether responses to individual NEP Scale items are context dependent and presents the results from the analysis.
Section 9 discusses the results and concludes the paper.

2. Context-dependency of attitudinal measures

Considerable research has been conducted into how survey context affects survey responses (e.g., Tourangeau, 2003;
Swait et al., 2002; Tourangeau and Rasinski, 1988; Krosnick and Alwin, 1987). For example, research has demonstrated that
in answering preceding questions in a survey, respondents may form a perception of themselves, which then influences their
responses to subsequent survey questions, in particular attitudinal questions (e.g., Pouta, 2004; Tourangeau et al., 1989).
Although this literature has not focused exclusively on environmental concern, the conclusions drawn are relevant to sur-
veys that focus on environmental concern and environmental behavior.
In their research into how survey context may influence responses to attitudinal questions, Tourangeau and Rasinski
(1988) noted that answers to attitude questions are a potentially complex four-stage process, which may require significant
cognitive effort. It is thus unsurprising that Krosnick (1991) found that when substantial cognitive effort is required respon-
dents may engage in satisficing behavior (see also Krosnick and Alwin, 1987). In such cases, respondents simply choose the
first answer to attitudinal questions that they deem acceptable, rather than the answer that accurately reflects their value
orientations or attitudes.7

4
Based on a Google Scholar search (conducted on April 20, 2013), over 140 papers have explicitly included the New Environmental Paradigm or the New
Ecological Paradigm Scale in the title of the paper, which indicates that these papers have explicitly focused on either scale. Moreover, since 2009 over 2100
papers have referred to either the New Environmental Paradigm or the New Ecological Paradigm, with a further 626 papers referring to both scales.
5
We focus on individual NEP items rather than the composite NEP Scale for two reasons. First, the data used in our analysis is derived from a survey that did
not include the complete NEP Scale. Although it is not uncommon for researchers to use a subset of the NEP Scale, owing to survey length, using a subset of NEP
items appears to bias the NEP score (Hawcroft and Milfont, 2010), and related conclusions about environmental concern. Second, there is a substantial body of
research documenting that the NEP Scale is a multifaceted construct, which can be broken down into sub-scales. Using either factor analysis or principal
components analysis, researchers have found that the NEP Scale is composed of more than one dimension, although the number of dimensions varies by study
(e.g., Milfont and Duckitt, 2010; Cordano et al., 2003; Grendstad, 1999) and whether researchers assume that facets of the NEP are orthogonal (Amburgey and
Thoman, 2012). Accordingly, researchers have created abbreviated NEP scales (Cordano et al., 2003) of five to 10 items (Hawcroft and Milfont, 2010) based on
the results of the factor or principal components analyses. Given that the number and combination of items included in the abbreviated NEP Scales vary by
study, tests for context dependence of individual NEP items are a first step towards determining whether subsets of NEP items may be context dependent.
6
The focus of this paper is on how responses to individual NEP items are influenced by survey context. We do not explicitly address how context affects
measured environmental attitudes or core components of environmental attitudes. That question will be addressed in future research, and is outside the scope
of the current study.
7
Various types of satisficing behavior include: ‘‘choosing the first response alternative that seems to constitute a reasonable answer, agreeing with an
assertion made by a question, endorsing the status quo instead of endorsing social change, failing to differentiate among a set of diverse objects in ratings,
saying ‘don’t know’ instead of reporting an opinion, and randomly choosing among the response alternatives offered’’ (Krosnick, 1991: 213). Satisficing is less
likely to occur when respondents believe that accurate survey responses will result in desirable social outcomes or they will be required to justify their
responses to others. Satisficing increases with the length of the survey (Krosnick, 1991).
1544 E.F. Pienaar et al. / Social Science Research 42 (2013) 1542–1554

All stages of answering attitudinal questions may be affected by survey context, in particular prior information or items in
the survey. Context effects may include the incomplete retrieval of complex value orientations or attitudes based on infor-
mation included in the survey, such that subsequent responses are based on readily accessible—rather than complete—value
orientations or attitudes (Roskos-Ewoldsen and Fazio, 1997; Tourangeau et al., 1989; Tourangeau and Rasinski, 1988). As
such, prior items in a survey ‘prime’ responses to subsequent items in the survey. This implies that responses to attitudinal
questions are determined by the strength and importance of an individual’s value orientations or attitudes, the relevance of
these value orientations or attitudes to the survey and how recently they have been accessed (Tourangeau et al., 1989; Tou-
rangeau and Rasinski, 1988; Krosnick, 1991).
Questions asked or information presented prior to attitudinal questions may affect what respondents deem to be relevant
and redundant in answering the attitudinal questions (Tourangeau and Rasinski, 1988). ‘‘Prior items can [also] change how
respondents interpret subsequent items, what specific beliefs they retrieve in thinking about the issue, which dimensions,
standards, or norms they apply in forming the required judgment, and how they report their answers. Complicating matters
further, context sometimes pushes later responses in the direction of apparent consistency, but sometimes pushes them in
the opposite direction.’’ (Tourangeau et al., 1989: 402) The former effect is referred to as an interpretive carryover effect and
the latter is termed a backfire effect.
According to Tourangeau and Rasinski (1988), interpretive carryover effects are more likely to occur when respondents
are unfamiliar with the issues being addressed in the survey, when their value orientations or attitudes are less readily acces-
sible or conflicted, when their expertise in an issue exceeds the information provided in the survey, or when a question asks
for a complex judgment. However, carryover effects tend to be reduced when questionnaires are self-administered (Touran-
geau and Rasinski, 1988).8 Also, self-administered questionnaires tend to encourage truthful reporting of attitudes (Touran-
geau, 2004). Backfire effects are more likely to occur when prior items on a survey are seen as extreme or dissimilar, but
still comparable, to subsequent survey items (Tourangeau and Rasinski, 1988).

3. The New Ecological Paradigm Scale

This paper explores how survey context affects responses to individual items included in the NEP Scale, which measures
general environmental concern. During the 1970s, when public awareness of environmental issues grew, researchers sought
to identify social determinants of environmental degradation. Researchers argued that environmental degradation was being
driven by a dominant social paradigm (DSP)9 that developed during a time when resource constraints were not apparent and
faith was placed in libertarian principles, science, technology, and resource abundance (Catton and Dunlap, 1978; Dunlap and
Van Liere, 1984; Dunlap, 2008b). However, according to this research, a new environmental paradigm was developing that
explicitly recognized both the dependence of modern industrialized societies on the availability of natural resources and the
health of ecosystems and the environmental consequences of pollution and excessive resource use.
To empirically measure commitment to the new environmental paradigm, Dunlap and Van Liere (1978) created the New
Environmental Paradigm Scale, which focused on the ability of people to disturb the balance of nature, limits to economic
growth, and human domination over nature. Dunlap and Van Liere (1978) found that the New Environmental Paradigm Scale
was able to differentiate between environmentalists (whose worldview is influenced by the new environmental paradigm)
and non-environmentalists (whose worldview is influenced by the DSP).
Recognizing several limitations of the structure and wording of the original New Environmental Paradigm Scale (e.g., LaL-
onde and Jackson, 2002), Dunlap et al. (2000) proposed an updated set of items called the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP)
Scale. The NEP Scale consists of 15 Likert-scale items, which are intended to measure five core components of individuals’
environmental concern: (1) limits to economic growth, (2) anti-anthropocentrism; (3) the fragility of nature’s balance; (4)
human exemptionalism (i.e., the belief that people are not bound by the constraints of nature); and (5) the possibility of
potentially catastrophic environmental changes or eco-crises affecting people (Dunlap et al., 2000).
Answers to each of the NEP items are assigned a score such that the lowest value of one is assigned to an answer of
‘‘strongly disagree’’ and the highest value of five is assigned to an answer of ‘‘strongly agree’’. Individuals with a higher level
of environmental concern are expected to score higher on the pro-NEP items (NEP1, NEP3, NEP5, NEP7, and NEP15) and low-
er on the pro-DSP items (NEP2, NEP4, NEP6, NEP8, and NEP14).10 Prior to aggregating these item scores in order to obtain a
measure of an individual’s environmental concern, the scoring for the pro-DSP items is reversed so that the lowest value of one
is assigned to an answer of ‘‘strongly agree’’ and the highest value of five is assigned to an answer of ‘‘strongly disagree’’. A high
score on the NEP Scale indicates pro-environmental attitudes, which should result in pro-environmental behavior, subject to
budgetary and other constraints. Stern et al. (1995), Spash (2006) and Dunlap (2008a) have found support for the validity of
the NEP Scale in measuring environmental concern and predicting environmental behavior.

8
The magnitude of carryover effects depends on how soon attitudinal questions are asked after context items are presented to the respondent and on how
closely related these items are in the minds of respondents (e.g., Tourangeau et al., 2003). However, carryover effects do not depend on respondents’ level of
agreement with the context items, respondents’ prior views about an issue, or the number of response options included on the survey (Tourangeau et al., 1989).
9
In this context, a social paradigm refers to society’s basic worldview and cultural heritage, which are composed of common values and beliefs about
physical and social environments (Pirages and Ehrlich, 1974).
10
Refer to Table 3 to see the scores for the individual NEP items for this study.
 E.F. Pienaar et al. / Social Science Research 42 (2013) 1542–1554 1545

In considering determinants of environmental concern, Van Liere and Dunlap (1980) posited that environmental concern
would be positively related to education, income, urban residence and liberalism, and negatively related to age. As noted by
Fransson and Gärling (1999), studies show only a weak relationship between socio-demographic variables and environmen-
tal concern; although there is some evidence that education, age, residential area and political ideology affect environmental
concern. Nonetheless, Jones and Dunlap (1992) found that environmental concern is higher for younger adults, individuals
with a higher level of education, political liberals, Democrats, and urban residents, whereas environmental concern is lower
for individuals employed in primary industries (see also Johnson et al., 2004; Hawcroft and Milfont, 2010). There is also some
evidence that NEP scores in particular are affected by culture (Vikan et al., 2007; Pierce et al., 1987; Schultz and Zelezny,
1999), class structures (Skogen, 1999), and gender (Rideout et al., 2005).
While the forgoing research is valuable, there is another issue that should be addressed; namely, are responses to the NEP
items influenced by other information presented to individuals in the same survey instrument? To the best of our knowl-
edge, this context-dependency of NEP responses has not been tested. The only study we are aware of that has sought to mea-
sure how information affects responses to the NEP was conducted by Rideout (2005), who tested the effect of factual
knowledge of environmental problems on endorsement of the NEP. Specifically he tested for changes in college students’
level of endorsement of the NEP after they had participated in a two to three week learning module, which focused on envi-
ronmental problems and energy issues. When compared to a control group, these students showed significant increases in
endorsement of the NEP, even when they failed to retain the information taught during the module. Rideout (2005) con-
cluded that Dunlap et al.’s (2000) assertion that individuals’ endorsement of the NEP should be responsive to information
is correct.11
To test for the context-dependency of NEP responses, we use data from a survey that was designed to elicit individuals’
willingness to pay for the protection of threatened and endangered marine species in the United States of America. Respon-
dents were presented with detailed information about these species and threats to each species’ population as part of a sta-
ted preference choice experiment (Alpizar et al., 2001) directly prior to being presented with the NEP Scale items.
Accordingly, they were reminded of various ways in which human activities may have contributed to the decline of marine
populations, which may have resulted in priming, interpretive carryover, or backfire effects, particularly given the charis-
matic nature of several of the species. We test the hypothesis that responses to the NEP items are dependent upon survey
context by using a logit modeling approach that assesses differences in responses to NEP Scale items while controlling for
differences that may be attributable to non-context factors, such as sample differences.

4. Data overview

Data for this analysis are from the Protected Species Valuation (PSV) survey, a national household-level survey developed
by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The survey collected information about public preferences and atti-
tudes toward protecting eight threatened or endangered marine species: the Puget Sound Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus
tshawytscha), the Upper Willamette River Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha), the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), the
leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), the North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica), the North Atlantic right
whale (Eubalaena glacialis), the Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi), and the smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata).
Each of the 27 survey versions was structured to provide detailed information about three of the eight species. The sur-
veys presented information on the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) and each of the three species, including historical and
current population trends; species habitat; past, present, and potential future protection actions; and questions to under-
stand the respondent’s preferences for undertaking additional protection of the species.12 Prior to presenting respondents
with species information, respondents were asked their opinion about government expenditures on assistance to big cities, drug
rehabilitation, education, the environment, health, law enforcement and space exploration. The survey concluded with 10 items
from the NEP Scale. Importantly, the survey versions were identical except for the information and questions about the three
specific species in the survey.
The 27 survey versions were fielded in identical fashion and at the same time using an Internet-based survey approach.
The survey was implemented from May through July 2009 by Knowledge Networks (KN) utilizing a random sample of the KN
web panel of US households and following a Dillman Tailored Design Method approach (Dillman et al., 2009). Panel members
were recruited via e-mails with a link to the survey, and were provided follow-up reminders by e-mail and telephone.13 Indi-
viduals were not assigned a survey version until they logged into the web survey. The number of individuals who completed a
given survey version ranged from 303 to 328 for a total of 8476 completed surveys across all 27 versions. The final cooperation
rate across all 27 versions based on the number of completed surveys divided by the number of panel members who were sent
an e-mail invitation was 70.8%.

11
Although Rideout (2005) showed that the NEP is responsive to information, the information presented did not vary across surveyed individuals. In contrast,
this study focuses on how variation in information presented on a survey affects NEP responses.
12
These questions consisted of several stated preference questions, where respondents were asked to choose between alternative protection programs that
differed in their efficacy in leading to improved ESA statuses of each species and in the program costs. Responses to these questions enable estimation of the
willingness to pay and are the focus of Wallmo and Lew (2011).
13
In accordance with the discussion in Section 2, self-administered surveys should result in truthful reporting of behavior and attitudes and lower probability
of carryover effects.
 1546 E.F. Pienaar et al. / Social Science Research 42 (2013) 1542–1554

Response data from 7353 individuals are used for the analysis. 1123 individuals (13%) were excluded for either of two
reasons: (1) observations were missing for the key variables included in this analysis, or (2) respondents provided identical
answers across all the NEP items (e.g., ‘somewhat agree’ to all NEP items), which are likely indicative that they had not seri-
ously answered the items or had engaged in satisficing behavior.
Across all survey versions, males and females are fairly equally represented in the sample with 53% of respondents being
male. Respondents’ ages are approximately normally distributed with a mean of 50.6 years and a median of 52 years. The
mean and median income ranges for respondents were $50,000–$59,999 per annum and $60,000–$74,999 per annum
respectively. Thirty-five percent of respondents had at least obtained a four-year college degree. Three-quarters of respon-
dents were white/Caucasian.14 Table 1 provides a summary of demographic characteristics of each of the 27 samples.
To assess respondents’ opinions about government expenditures on a variety of social issues, respondents were asked if
they believed that the government spends too little, too much, or about the right amount on these issues (see Table 2). Across
all respondents, the majority believed that the government spends too little on health, education, and the environment (65%,
64% and 53%, respectively). About half of respondents stated that about the right amount is spent by the government on drug
rehabilitation and law enforcement programs. At least 84% of respondents believed that too much or about the right amount
is spent by the government on assistance to big cities and space exploration.15
A condensed set of NEP Scale items was included in the survey (see Table 3). Only ten of the 15 items that compose the
full NEP Scale were presented to respondents. However, these items are a balanced set of pro-NEP and pro-DSP items that
cover the five posited core components of individuals’ environmental concern: belief in limits to economic growth (NEP1 and
NEP6), anti-anthropocentrism (NEP2 and NEP7), the fragility of nature’s balance (NEP3 and NEP8), human exemptionalism
(NEP4 and NEP14), and the possibility of eco-crises affecting people (NEP5 and NEP15). The complete NEP Scale contains
three items corresponding to each of the five core components of environmental concern. Although items nine to 13 of
the complete NEP Scale were omitted from the PSV survey, owing in part to the length of the survey, the use of a partial
set of the NEP items is not uncommon (e.g. Hawcroft and Milfont, 2010; Stedman, 2004).
The level of respondents’ agreement with each of these items is presented in Table 3. The items are worded such that
agreement with the odd-numbered items and disagreement with the even-numbered items indicate that an individual
has a pro-ecological worldview. Based on mean and median responses to each of the NEP items—aggregated across survey
versions—respondents tend towards a pro-ecological worldview. There appears to be strongest support for the fragility of
nature’s balance, the probability of present human behavior resulting in eco-crises and anti-anthropocentrism. On average,
respondents most strongly supported the item ‘‘Humans are abusing the environment’’.16 In contrast, respondents are more
neutral about the limits to economic growth and the reality of human exemptionalism. Agreement with the item ‘‘The earth has
plenty of natural resources if we just learn how to develop them’’ is contrary to the belief that there are limits to economic
growth.

5. Overview of methods for testing

Given that the survey does not include all 15 NEP Scale items, which precludes the calculation of a complete NEP score,
we focused on individual NEP Scale items when testing for differences in the distribution of NEP Scale responses.17 To sys-
tematically examine whether the NEP Scale items are influenced by context-related factors, namely the particular species that
are presented in each survey, we employ both non-parametric and parametric approaches. Non-parametric Mann–Whitney U
tests (Mann and Whitney, 1947) are utilized to investigate the pairwise differences in NEP Scale item distributions between the
27 samples that received different survey versions. These tests indicate whether or not any of the 351 unique pairs of samples
have distributional differences in NEP Scale item responses.

14
The overall sample mean age and income of respondents was higher than for the general U.S. population. The sample also contained a higher proportion of
individuals with some college education than in the general population. Men were over-represented in the sample, but the regional distribution of respondents
was similar to the distribution for the United States. Black and Hispanic individuals were underrepresented in the sample. Since the survey was completed by
the heads of households, the comparison of individual characteristics to the general population may not necessarily indicate non-representativeness to the
population of U.S. heads of households for which there is no corresponding population data.
15
These questions were drawn from the General Social Survey (GSS) (see http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/), a longstanding random digit dial survey of U.S.
households designed to examine societal trends. For this survey, the response structures on education, health care, and the environment are similar to national
GSS responses from 1972 to 2006. Response structures are also similar to those of the GSS for the questions concerning space exploration and assistance to
cities, although results for spending on law enforcement and drug rehabilitation are slightly dissimilar to GSS responses. For the latter questions, about half the
respondents thought the government is spending about the right amount on these issues, whereas this figure was closer to a third of respondents from the GSS.
16
Unfortunately, owing to an oversight, the wording for both NEP5 and NEP15 were altered from the original. NEP5 should have been worded as ‘‘Humans are
severely abusing the environment’’. NEP15 should have been worded as ‘‘If things continue on their present course we will soon experience a major ecological
catastrophe’’. Omitting the word ‘severely’ from NEP5 and changing ‘major ecological catastrophe’ to ‘environmental catastrophe’ may have affected variation
in responses to these two items.
17
Prior to testing whether responses to the NEP Scale questions are context-dependent, we tested whether the NEP Scale is a unidimensional or
multidimensional measure of environmental concern for our data using factor analysis. Results of these analyses, and discussion of these results, are presented
in an appendix (available upon request). Both proportion of variance explained and Kaiser’s rule suggest that for this study the NEP Scale is multidimensional
both across all surveys and for each individual survey version. Moreover, the retained factors (components) did not reflect the five facets of environmental
attitudes that the NEP was designed to measure. For these reasons, we analyzed the context dependence of individual NEP items rather than the dimensions of
the NEP or the (partial) NEP score.
 E.F. Pienaar et al. / Social Science Research 42 (2013) 1542–1554 1547

Table 1
Sample demographics.

Version Percent Mean age Educational attainment White/ Household income

male (Years) Caucasian (%)
Less than high College degree or Less than $30,000– $100,000 or
school grad (%) higher (%) $30,000 (%) $100,000 (%) higher (%)
All 53.1 50.6 5.1 35.3 75.1 18.4 60.6 21.0
1 49.8 50.3 5.6 35.9 74.6 18.1 63.4 18.5
2 51.6 52.2 5.0 34.3 76.0 20.1 58.3 21.6
3 50.2 50.3 5.3 36.3 72.6 16.4 58.4 25.3
4 50.0 50.6 6.2 34.4 71.0 20.7 59.4 19.9
5 60.4 50.3 3.3 40.4 74.9 21.1 55.6 23.3
6 55.2 49.4 4.8 35.7 75.4 14.0 63.2 22.8
7 48.6 50.1 4.6 33.2 75.4 20.7 62.1 17.1
8 53.1 49.1 5.1 36.8 78.0 19.5 56.7 23.8
9 54.7 48.7 4.8 35.0 71.6 22.2 57.8 20.1
10 54.6 51.0 7.7 33.2 75.2 18.5 58.7 22.7
11 53.9 51.6 3.4 37.9 74.7 21.9 58.7 19.3
12 47.2 50.6 5.2 33.2 78.2 19.2 61.6 19.2
13 56.8 50.1 4.4 33.3 72.2 15.4 66.3 18.3
14 53.1 49.1 4.2 37.7 75.0 15.4 61.5 23.1
15 57.2 50.0 6.5 40.3 74.5 15.8 58.6 25.5
16 50.4 52.1 5.6 37.2 76.7 16.9 57.9 25.2
17 50.4 50.9 4.2 35.2 74.6 13.6 67.8 18.6
18 56.1 50.8 5.2 35.3 72.1 20.1 61.3 18.6
19 49.4 49.5 4.2 33.2 75.5 18.5 57.7 23.8
20 58.6 51.3 4.6 36.4 75.9 18.0 63.6 18.4
21 54.5 52.4 5.1 29.6 81.7 19.1 61.9 19.1
22 49.5 52.2 2.9 31.7 72.6 18.9 56.9 24.2
23 52.4 51.1 4.5 37.6 76.2 18.6 60.8 20.5
24 53.4 50.6 6.8 37.9 75.4 16.7 67.1 16.3
25 52.2 50.0 7.1 35.8 70.5 21.6 59.3 19.0
26 50.9 50.5 6.4 31.5 79.4 16.1 63.7 20.2
27 60.4 51.0 4.9 33.6 80.0 17.7 59.6 22.6

A shortcoming of these non-parametric tests, however, is the inability to control for differences in the samples or in the
surveys that may be driving the distributional differences in responses. Accordingly, we employ a second stage meta-regres-
sion approach to more closely examine distributional differences in NEP Scale items while controlling for sample differences
and survey context. To this end, we specify a logit model that explicitly models the probability of observing differences in
NEP Scale item responses between two samples as a function of differences in sample demographics, opinions about govern-
ment expenditures and survey design features. By controlling for differences in the distribution of socioeconomic variables
and attitudes towards government spending across samples, the logit model allows us to specifically test for context depen-
dency of environmental concern.

6. Non-parametric tests of the NEP scale responses

Results of the Mann–Whitney U tests for each individual NEP item, assuming the 0.05 level of significance, are presented
in Table 4. Given that there are 27 different versions of the PSV survey, 351 Mann–Whitney U tests were conducted for each
variable to account for all possible unique pairwise comparisons of survey versions.
Across the NEP items, the number of statistically significant distributional differences ranged from 5 to 21 (1.4–6% of all
pairwise survey comparisons). The smallest number of statistically significant results are recorded for NEP7 (‘‘Plants and ani-
mals have as much right as humans to exist’’), NEP8 (‘‘The balance of nature is strong enough to cope with the impacts of
modern industrial nations’’), and NEP14 (‘‘Humans will eventually learn enough about how nature works to be able to con-
trol it’’), which implies that the distribution of responses to these items are likely to be similar across samples of the pop-
ulation. The greatest number of statistically significant differences (6%) were recorded for NEP3 (‘‘When humans interfere
with nature it often produces disastrous consequences’’) and NEP4 (‘‘Human ingenuity will insure that we do not make
the earth unlivable’’).

7. Tests of differences in demographics and non-NEP attitudes

To evaluate other differences between pairs of survey versions, Mann–Whitney U tests (0.05 level of significance) were
applied to several ordinal-level demographic variables and questions pertaining to government program expenditures. For
income, over 5% of the 351 pairwise survey comparisons showed distributional differences that were statistically significant
at the 0.05 significance level (see Table 4). For education and ethnicity, 2.6% and 6.8% of all pairwise comparisons were
1548 E.F. Pienaar et al. / Social Science Research 42 (2013) 1542–1554

Table 2
Attitudes toward government spending (over all 27 survey versions).

Issue Too little About the right amount Too much

No. % No. % No. %
Space exploration 1151 15.7 3454 47.0 2748 37.4
The environment 3891 52.9 2510 34.1 952 13.0
Health 4774 64.9 1823 24.8 756 10.3
Assistance to big cities 966 13.1 3269 44.5 3118 42.4
Law enforcement 2901 39.5 3812 51.8 640 8.7
Drug rehabilitation 2196 29.9 3642 49.5 1515 20.6
Education 4700 63.9 1937 26.3 716 9.7

statistically significant, respectively. The incidence of significant differences in the distribution of opinions about
government program expenditures ranged from less than 1% for drug rehabilitation to 4.3% for education.
Using simple t-tests (0.05 level of significance), differences in the proportion of males were found in 9.4% of the 351 sur-
vey comparisons.

8. Modeling environmental attitudinal differences

We posit several possible explanations for the observed differences in the distribution of responses to each of the ten NEP
items across survey versions. Specifically, we test whether these differences in responses are attributable to (a) differences in
the demographic characteristics of survey respondents across survey versions; (b) differences in respondents’ opinions about
government expenditures across survey versions; and/or (c) differences in the species with which respondents were pre-
sented. The last is the primary focus.
As noted above, there is some evidence that environmental concern is influenced by demographic, political, and cultural
differences across individuals. Limitations in the available data precluded the inclusion of variables related to political ide-
ology and cultural beliefs. However, opinions about government spending on social issues can be viewed as a rough proxy for
political ideology.18 As per the discussion of determinants of environmental concern in Section 3, the demographic variables
included in the model are gender, education, income, and race/ethnicity. Using a simple specification search, we determined
that other demographic variables, for which distributional differences may affect environmental concern, (namely, age, marital
status, household size and region of residence) were not statistically significant determinants in the distribution of responses to
the individual NEP items. As such, we did not include these variables in the final estimation.
To evaluate the role various factors may play in influencing general environmental concern, we employ a parametric
model to identify which factors increase the probability of statistically significant differences in the distribution of NEP re-
sponses between pairs of survey versions. We conduct likelihood ratio tests to evaluate the hypotheses about factors that
influence differences in measured levels of NEP endorsement. For this analysis, we explicitly model the probability of observ-
ing a significant difference in NEP Scale item distributions (at the 0.05 level of significance), denoted by Pr[significant differ-
ence], as a function of differences in demographics and opinions about government spending across samples, and survey
context, namely which individual species were included on the survey versions. The unit of analysis for the meta-regression
is the nth pairwise comparison (n = 1, . . ., 351). We observe Un, which takes a value of one for a significant difference between
the NEP Scale item response distributions and zero otherwise. For the nth pairwise comparison, we define the latent function
Vn:
demo atts species
V n ¼ a þ b  dn þ c  dn þ d  dn þ en ð1Þ
demo atts
where a, b, c, and d are parameters to be estimated; and dn dn
are a K  1 and L  1 vectors of dummy variables asso-
ciated with statistically significant differences for K demographic variables and L responses to government expenditure ques-
tions, respectively. Each element of these vectors takes a value of 1 if the nth pairwise comparison is statistically significant
for the kth demographic or lth attitudinal response variable and zero otherwise. In the empirical models, K = L = 7. The vector
species
dn is an M  1 vector of dummy variables related to the presence or absence of species in the nth pairwise comparison.
The additive stochastic error, en, is assumed to be independent and identically distributed logistically for all n. This set-up
results in logit probabilities for observing a significant difference (Un = 1):

Pr½U n ¼ 1 ¼ Pr½V n P 0 ¼ expðV n Þ=½1 þ expðV n Þ: ð2Þ

The probability of not observing a significant difference in NEP endorsement (Un = 0) is

18
Although respondents did not explicitly identify their political ideology, responses to items about government spending provide insight into respondents’
support for liberalism. The items used to measure opinions about government spending were drawn from the General Social Survey, which is designed to study
the structure and development of American society, with specific focus on societal change in the United States. Individuals who adhere to a modern liberal
ideology tend to support increased government spending on social welfare programs, including spending on education, health care and the environment.
Accordingly, modern liberals are likely to answer that spending on social welfare programs is too low.
 E.F. Pienaar et al. / Social Science Research 42 (2013) 1542–1554 1549

Table 3
Agreement with the NEP statements (over all 27 survey versions).

Statement Mean item Strongly Somewhat Neither agree Somewhat Strongly

score (1 to 5) disagree disagree (%) nor disagree (%) agree (%) agree (%)
(%)
NEP1: We are approaching the limit of the number of 3.2 12.1 16.8 22.6 31.6 16.9
people the earth can support
NEP2: Humans have the right to modify the natural 2.5 19.8 35.9 19.0 20.4 5.0
environment to suit their needs
NEP3: When humans interfere with nature it often 3.8 4.7 9.6 15.4 43.0 27.4
produces disastrous consequences
NEP4: Human ingenuity will insure that we do not make 2.9 11.1 24.0 29.8 27.7 7.4
the earth unlivable
NEP5: Humans are abusing the environment 4.0 4.5 6.8 11.2 39.6 38.0
NEP6: The earth has plenty of natural resources if we just 3.6 5.6 16.0 13.5 44.3 20.5
learn how to develop them
NEP7: Plants and animals have as much right as humans 3.8 5.5 10.9 16.2 33.6 33.8
to exist
NEP8: The balance of nature is strong enough to cope 2.4 22.0 37.7 21.1 15.0 4.1
with the impacts of modern industrial nations
NEP14: Humans will eventually learn enough about how 2.5 21.1 30.3 26.5 19.0 3.1
nature works to be able to control ita
NEP15: If things continue on their present course we will 3.5 9.3 12.5 22.3 33.6 22.4
soon experience an environmental catastrophe
a
Statements 9–13, which are included in the complete New Ecological Paradigm, were not included in this survey. To avoid confusion, the original
numbering for the NEP statements are maintained in this paper.

Pr½U n ¼ 0 ¼ Pr½V n < 0 ¼ 1=½1 þ expðV n Þ: ð3Þ

We postulate that species enter the latent function Vn directly as specific species (Hawaiian monk seal, smalltooth saw-
fish, Puget Sound Chinook salmon, Upper Willamette River Chinook salmon, North Pacific right whale, North Atlantic right
whale, loggerhead sea turtle, and leatherback sea turtle) that are presented in each survey.
The role of species in each model is included through the use of two dummy variables for each pairwise survey compar-
ison indicating (a) whether the particular species is in only one of the two surveys under comparison and (b) whether the
particular species is in both surveys.19 The former variable may be important if the individual species appearing in a survey
influences people’s responses to NEP items. The significance of the latter variable may indicate that the effect of one species
appearing on both surveys helps steer responses to NEP items in the same direction, thereby aligning measured levels of
NEP endorsement. For example, if people in both samples indicate similar levels of agreement with NEP items (either more
or less agreement with the item) after reading information about a particular species than if they had not learned about that
species, then the parameter on the variable associated with that species appearing in both surveys will be negative. In effect,
information about the species may have aligned measured endorsement of the NEP across samples; that is, information about
the species has generated an interpretive carryover effect. Table 5 presents the frequency of occurrences of each specific species
appearing in only one or in both of each of the 351 pairwise survey comparisons.
We estimate logit models for each of the 10 NEP items.20 The results are presented in Table 6. Positive coefficients indicate
that differences in the sample with respect to the variable lead to a higher probability of observing a significant difference in the
distribution of responses to the NEP Scale item; i.e., the variable results in differences in measured levels of NEP endorsement. A
negative coefficient value, however, suggests that the variable reduces the probability of a significant difference in measured
levels of NEP endorsement. For the demographic and non-NEP attitudinal dummy variables, a positive coefficient indicates that
observed sample differences in the variable increases the likelihood of observing a difference in responses to NEP items, while
negative signs indicate that these variables reduce the likelihood of seeing differences in responses to NEP items.
Overall model fit statistics are presented in Table 6. Likelihood ratio indices (Train, 2003) are at least 0.8 across the models
and suggest the models are statistically significant.

8.1. Demographic effects

As discussed earlier, we conducted a simple specification search to determine which demographic variables to include in
the final analysis. For the majority of the NEP models demographic variables were not statistically significant, which is

19
To avoid the dummy variable trap, we exclude a dummy variable for the Upper Willamette River Chinook salmon appearing in only one survey in the
model.
20
NEP questions were not grouped and analyzed according to the five posited facets of environmental attitudes for two reasons. First, the full set of NEP Scale
questions had not been included on the survey, which meant that an incomplete set of facets were available for analysis. Second, as discussed in the appendix
(available upon request) factor analysis of the NEP Scale resulted in two to three retained factors for each survey version, which did not match the five posited
facets of the NEP Scale. Although each of the NEP Scale questions was analyzed individually, the discussion of the logit results will also refer to the facets that
each of these questions is intended to measure.
1550 E.F. Pienaar et al. / Social Science Research 42 (2013) 1542–1554

Table 4
Differences in the distribution of variables across samples: Percent of significant non-parametric and parametric test differences.

Percent (out of 351 pairwise comparisons)

NEP Scale questions
NEP1: We are approaching the limit of the number of people the earth can support 4.0
NEP2: Humans have the right to modify the natural environment to suit their needs 4.8
NEP3: When humans interfere with nature it often produces disastrous consequences 6.0
NEP4: Human ingenuity will insure that we do not make the earth unlivable 6.0
NEP5: Humans are abusing the environment 4.3
NEP6: The earth has plenty of natural resources if we just learn how to develop them 5.4
NEP7: Plants and animals have as much right as humans to exist 2.0
NEP8: The balance of nature is strong enough to cope with the impacts of modern industrial nations 1.4
NEP14: Humans will eventually learn enough about how nature works to be able to control it 3.1
NEP15: If things continue on their present course we will soon experience an environmental catastrophe 4.3
Socioeconomic variables
Male 9.4
Income 5.4
Education 2.6
Ethnicity 6.8
Attitudes toward spending on
Assistance to big cities 3.4
Drug rehabilitation 0.6
Education 4.3
Environment 3.4
Health 3.4
Law enforcement 16.8
Space exploration 8.3

consistent with Fransson and Gärling’s (1999) argument that the relationship between socio-demographic variables and
environmental concern is weak. However, when statistically significant, the parameters on these variables were positive,
which indicates that a difference in demographics increases the probability of observing a difference in measured endorse-
ment of NEP items, all else being equal.
We find that gender is statistically significant and positive in three models (NEP3, NEP4 and NEP15) that correspond to
the fragility of nature’s balance, human exemptionalism and the possibility of eco-crises affecting people. Education level is
also positive and statistically significant in the NEP3 model. Further, the income and ethnicity parameters are positive and
significant in one pro-DSP model each (NEP 4 and NEP 14 respectively). Both of these items relate to human exemptionalism.
Likelihood ratio tests were conducted to evaluate whether the demographic variables are jointly significant. These results
are included in Table 6. We reject the null hypothesis that the demographic parameters are jointly zero for only three of the
ten models, corresponding to belief in limits to economic growth (NEP6), the fragility of nature’s balance (NEP3), and the
possibility of eco-crises affecting people (NEP15).
To conclude, in the majority of models demographic variables are neither individually nor jointly significant. However,
when these variables are individually significant, differences in gender, education, income and ethnicity imply divergent dis-
tributions of endorsement of NEP items. Nonetheless, our results suggest that demographics are not key determinants of dif-
ferences in measured levels of NEP endorsement.

8.2. Opinions about government spending

Of the seven statements relating to government spending, two were excluded from final estimation of the NEP models
because the parameters were not statistically significant from zero (at either the 0.05 or the less rigorous 0.10 level of sig-
nificance). These two statements related to government expenditures on law enforcement and space exploration. Moreover,
although differences in attitudes toward spending on assistance to big cities and the environment increase the probability of
observing differences in responses to NEP3 and NEP7 respectively, these parameters are only significant at the 0.10 level of
significance. For our sample, differences in opinion about government spending on assistance to big cities, the environment,
law enforcement and space exploration did not affect the distribution of responses to individual NEP items.
However, differences in opinion about government spending on drug rehabilitation, education and healthcare increased
the probability of observing differences in responses to at least one NEP item. Differences in attitudes toward spending on
drug rehabilitation increased the probability of differences in agreement about the possibility of eco-crises affecting people
(NEP15). Disagreement about whether government expenditures on education are sufficient increases the probability of dif-
ferences in responses to items relating to the fragility of nature’s balance (NEP3) and human exemptionalism (NEP4). Finally,
differences in opinion about government spending on healthcare increases the probability of distributional differences in re-
sponses to items associated with limits to economic growth (NEP6) and human exemptionalism (NEP14).
 E.F. Pienaar et al. / Social Science Research 42 (2013) 1542–1554 1551

Table 5
Frequency of species appearing in unique pairs of survey versions.

Appears on one survey only Appears on both surveys

No. % No. %
Specific species
Hawaiian monk seal 170 48.4 45 12.8
Puget Sound chinook salmon 180 51.3 66 18.8
Upper Willamette River chinook salmon 180 51.3 66 18.8
Smalltooth sawfish 140 39.9 21 6.0
Leatherback sea turtle 176 50.1 55 15.7
Loggerhead sea turtle 162 46.2 36 10.3
North Atlantic right whale 176 50.1 55 15.7
North Pacific right whale 162 46.2 36 10.3

In common with demographic variables, likelihood ratio tests indicate that the null hypothesis that opinions about gov-
ernment spending are jointly zero could not be rejected for the majority of models. However, the null hypothesis was re-
jected for both NEP Scale items relating to the possibility of eco-crises affecting people (NEP5 and NEP15) and for one
item pertaining to the fragility of nature’s balance (NEP3).
To conclude, there were no statistically significant and negative parameters for opinions about government spending,
suggesting that differences in opinions about government spending result in differences in measured endorsement of NEP
items. Given that the majority of government spending variables are neither individually nor jointly significant, we infer
that, for this survey, differences in opinions about government spending are not key determinants of the distribution of re-
sponses to the NEP.

8.3. Species effects

In contrast to demographics and opinions about government spending, species effects are individually or jointly signifi-
cant for the majority of the NEP models. That is, our survey results suggest that measured levels of endorsement of the NEP
are context dependent. However, significant differences in endorsement of the NEP resulting from species included in the
survey applies to only two models, which are associated with human exemptionalism and the possibility of eco-crises affect-
ing people. The presence of the loggerhead sea turtle on both surveys and the North Atlantic right whale on one or both sur-
veys is associated with a higher probability of finding a statistically significant difference in agreement with the pro-DSP
item, ‘‘Human ingenuity will insure that we do not make the earth unlivable’’ (NEP4). The presence of the Puget Sound Chi-
nook salmon on both surveys increased the probability of observing differences in responses to the pro-environmental item,
‘‘Humans are abusing the environment’’ (NEP5).
Negative and statistically significant species-related parameters are more commonly found in the models than positive
and significant ones. These parameters indicate that in the presence of these species, one is less likely to observe a statisti-
cally significant difference in the distribution of responses to NEP Scale items. For example, in the NEP2 (‘‘Humans have the
right to modify the natural environment to suit their needs’’) model, which is associated with anti-anthropocentrism, the
North Atlantic and North Pacific right whales appearing on one or both surveys and the leatherback sea turtle appearing
in both surveys reduced the probability of differences in the distribution of responses to this item; that is, the presence
of these species on the surveys aligned responses to NEP2.
Interestingly, a larger number of negative and statistically significant parameters are observed for species appearing on
one survey only, as opposed to species appearing in both surveys. The implication that the appearance of that species on one
survey only aligned responses to the NEP item, rather than causing divergence in responses, is contrary to our initial expec-
tations. However, these negative effects are typically observed for the pro-DSP rather than the pro-NEP items. It appears that
species information is more likely to affect the distribution of responses to items that support the DSP, although we cannot
determine whether this information increases or decreases the probability that individuals will agree with the pro-DSP
items.
Based on both the significance of the individual species parameters and the likelihood ratio tests, species effects are less
likely to be observed for those items associated with a belief in the fragility of nature’s balance (NEP3 and NEP8) and the
possibility of eco-crises affecting people (NEP5 and NEP15). Nonetheless, in contrast to demographics and opinions about
government spending, the distribution of responses to NEP items is likely to be affected by survey context.
To conclude, likelihood ratio tests of the null hypothesis that the effect of species presence in one or both surveys is jointly
zero were rejected for seven of the 10 NEP models. This implies that measured endorsement of NEP items is context depen-
dent. Moreover, with the exception of two NEP models, species effects reduced the probability of a difference in responses to
the NEP items. In other words, survey context tended to align responses to the NEP items, in particular pro-DSP items. These
species effects were not restricted to charismatic species.
1552 E.F. Pienaar et al. / Social Science Research 42 (2013) 1542–1554

Table 6
Logit model results (N = 351).

Parameter NEP1 NEP2 NEP3 NEP4 NEP5 NEP6 NEP7 NEP8 NEP14 NEP15
Constant 5.66 5.46 4.27 7.89 21.16 7.01 11.83 23.38 4.62 3.63
Species appears in one survey only
Leatherback sea turtle 0.76 1.36 0.73 1.60 0.33 5.17 1.95 0.37 1.58 0.68
Loggerhead sea turtle 1.86 0.23 0.64 1.65 0.50 5.51 0.58 0.95 3.77 1.48
North Atlantic right whale 0.57 3.11 0.81 2.82 0.11 5.85 9.23 0.73 0.52 0.23
North Pacific right whale 2.52 2.83 3.35 1.29 2.18 6.58 0.12 8.50 1.68 0.47
Puget Sound chinook salmon 3.56 1.53 3.04 1.21 1.29 1.13 0.22 0.53 2.35 0.77
Hawaiian monk seal 0.76 2.21 1.96 0.11 2.00 8.62 – 2.04 1.71 1.37
Smalltooth sawfish 2.72 1.02 3.20 0.66 14.77 3.75 2.20 10.10 0.19 1.04
Species appears in both surveys
Leatherback sea turtle 4.34 5.46 2.93 1.14 10.69 13.03 12.30 5.86 2.78 9.64
Loggerhead sea turtle 13.67 0.91 12.52 4.21 10.75 20.71 9.05 9.25 6.89 1.94
N. Atlantic right whale 2.26 5.35 0.84 5.64 1.55 22.19 10.43 8.22 1.26 0.16
N. Pacific right whale 12.59 5.08 13.38 2.04 0.41 21.14 0.62 10.07 11.13 0.02
Puget Sound Chinook salmon 14.80 4.25 2.86 10.30 4.89 5.69 10.64 0.77 8.82 0.08
Hawaiian monk seal 2.53 4.73 2.93 1.08 2.81 4.45 11.62 5.04 0.44 0.03
Smalltooth sawfish 14.45 12.12 13.90 11.76 6.09 4.16 13.08 11.10 11.40 9.28
U. Willamette R. Chinook salmon 2.02 0.44 1.09 0.08 20.10 4.51 0.50 1.03 1.99 1.15
Demographics
Male 1.59 0.40 1.76 2.48 1.42 2.58 8.12 – 12.55 2.89
Education level 2.93 7.94 4.23 2.28 0.54 3.29 12.90 9.73 6.46 2.24
Income 9.11 8.88 9.96 3.24 14.21 0.72 8.00 0.48 8.40 8.51
Ethnicity 9.40 7.31 8.99 0.81 0.45 9.18 11.37 – 5.70 6.77
Opinions about government spending
Assistance to big cities 7.77 1.44 1.94 0.17 0.99 8.62 0.78 0.91 7.06 1.48
Drug rehabilitation 5.95 7.22 9.68 9.90 11.69 7.72 3.66 7.81 5.10 3.84
Education 9.44 0.60 3.11 3.78 23.59 13.19 2.99 7.52 1.87 1.19
Environment 10.18 8.38 1.02 0.96 0.45 13.87 2.40 – 7.93 1.47
Health 0.24 2.12 0.73 11.43 15.84 5.44 10.78 8.96 5.81 9.02
Model fit statistics
Log-Likelihood 34.81 47.48 44.68 44.68 25.15 36.17 14.88 14.30 24.81 40.37
LRI 0.857 0.805 0.816 0.816 0.897 0.851 0.939 0.941 0.898 0.834
AICc 123.62 148.96 143.36 143.35 104.31 126.33 83.75 82.61 103.62 134.73
BIC 216.14 241.48 235.88 235.87 196.83 218.85 176.27 175.13 196.14 227.25
Likelihood ratio tests: Tests of context dependency
All species parameters are zeroa 37.09 34.69 41.59 61.14 59.37 57.51 11.93 21.16 40.27 18.69
All demographic parameters are 8.18 2.01 12.41 8.45 5.41 9.87 1.72 0.35 9.09 13.23
b
zero
All government spending 2.83 3.35 19.96 9.69 16.31 8.31 10.52 0.27 6.56 11.83
parameters are zeroc

Parameters in bold are statistically different from zero at the 5% level; parameters in italics are statistically different from zero at the 10% level.
a
Critical chi-square values at the 5% and 10% levels are v2(0.95, 15) = 24.996 and v2(0.9, 15) = 22.307 respectively.
b
Critical chi-square values at the 5% and 10% levels are v2(0.95, 4) = 9.488 and v2(0.9, 4) = 7.779 respectively.
c
Critical chi-square values at the 5% and 10% levels are v2(0.95, 5) = 11.070 and v2(0.9, 5) = 9.236 respectively.

9. Discussion

Our examination of responses to questions relating to environmental concern using these data systematically isolated the
role that sample differences and survey-specific features, in the form of threatened and endangered species presented in
each survey, play in influencing differences in responses to NEP items. Differences in response distributions were first tested
by using non-parametric statistical tests. Using a logit modeling approach to simultaneously control for sample character-
istics and survey differences, these observed statistical differences (from the non-parametric tests) were found to be influ-
enced by differences in the surveys, which provides evidence of context-dependency on questions used to measure
environmental concern (specifically NEP Scale items). Context dependency of environmental concern questions implies that
resulting measures of environmental concern may be influenced by survey context. This is of particular importance given the
wide use of the NEP Scale to measure environmental concern by researchers from a variety of disciplines, who may not be
trained in environmental psychology or environmental sociology.
The analysis focused on using a subset of 10 of the 15 New Ecological Paradigm Scale items collectively representing the
five facets of environmental concern identified by Dunlap et al. (2000). Our analysis concentrated on analyzing differences in
the distributions of responses to each of the 10 NEP Scale items.
The effects on responses to environmental concern questions from the inclusion of specific species in the surveys were
found to be statistically important across seven of the NEP Scale items. However, species effects are associated with a higher
likelihood of observing significant differences in responses in only two NEP items. Otherwise, the presence of specific species
 E.F. Pienaar et al. / Social Science Research 42 (2013) 1542–1554 1553

in a comparison led to a smaller likelihood of observing a significant difference in responses to the NEP items, in particular
for the pro-DSP items. This implies that when some species appear in one or both surveys, respondents had less variability in
their responses to NEP items. Species effects do not appear to be restricted to charismatic fauna, as only the Hawaiian monk
seal was found not to alter the probabilities of seeing a significant difference in responses in any NEP item.
NEP responses appear to be context-dependent in the sense that which species a respondent sees in a survey does seem to
affect the distribution of responses. However, the particular direction and magnitude of that effect likely depends upon the
species and the specific NEP item asked. For example, species effects may be proxies for effects from particular types of infor-
mation presented about each species that are more fundamental to the differences in responses to environmental attitude
questions, such as information about whether species are threatened or endangered, the reasons for the species’ decline,
types of actions available to enhance or improve protection, likely cost of protecting the species, etc. Exploration of the effect
of these factors in relation to context dependence is left for future research.
Neither differences in demographics nor opinions about government spending significantly altered the distribution of re-
sponses to the majority of the NEP items. Differences in sample characteristics increased the likelihood of observing differ-
ences in responses to only three of the NEP Scale items (NEP3, NEP6 and NEP15). Differences in opinions about spending on
drug rehabilitation, education and health care significantly increased the probability of differences in responses to the NEP3,
NEP5 and NEP15 items.
Importantly, while this analysis does show that context differences affect whether we observe differences in the distri-
bution of responses to NEP Scale items, the model results do not provide evidence of how these factors affect environmental
concern. The current analysis does not determine whether different species and species information are proxies for more
fundamental factors that influence environmental concern. Further, since the full set of NEP Scale items was not incorporated
into the survey, we were unable to conduct a direct test of context dependency on the NEP Scale score, given a full NEP score
for each respondent could not be calculated.21 This analysis is confined to determining what factors affect differences in re-
sponses to questions that are used to measure environmental concern, not the direction or magnitude of those differences.
Despite the limitations of this analysis, it seems clear that the information about each species with which survey respon-
dents were provided influences their responses to the NEP Scale items. Thus, in this application, we find that individual NEP
Scale items are responsive to information differences, as posited by Dunlap et al. (2000). Further research is required to ex-
plore exactly how survey context influences responses to questions related to environmental concern. This may have impli-
cations for how environmental attitudes may be altered by the dissemination of information about environmental problems,
including human threats to threatened and endangered species.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Rita Curtis, Ron Felthoven, and three anonymous reviewers for useful comments on this
work. All remaining errors, if any, are our own. This research was conducted under Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commis-
sion Grant #NA04NMF4370384. The views and opinions expressed in this paper are the authors’ own, and do not necessarily
reflect those of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce.

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Although analyses based on partial NEP scores are possible, the interpretation and generalization of the results would be highly dependent upon the
particular NEP questions comprising the constructed partial scores; as a result, these more direct analyses are left for future research.
1554 E.F. Pienaar et al. / Social Science Research 42 (2013) 1542–1554

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