Development and Validation of an Attitudes Towards Spending Time in Nature Scale

Spending time in nature is linked to better health and well-being, but many adults don’t get nearly enough of it. Programs based on health behavior theories might help change that, but they need good tools to measure what works. One key factor is people’s attitudes: how someone feels about a behavior is a strong predictor of whether they’ll actually do it. But until now, there hasn’t been a reliable way to measure attitudes toward spending time in nature.

This study set out to create one.

The researchers followed a careful step-by-step process: identifying what to measure, generating questions, checking for accuracy, testing them, running a survey, narrowing down the questions, and checking the results for reliability and validity. The team started with 49 possible questions. After checking for content validity and pretesting, they narrowed it down to 21.

A nationwide sample of 2,109 adults completed the survey online. About half were men, the median age was 58, and nearly 39% were non-White.

Using statistical analysis, the researchers found that people’s attitudes fell into three categories: positive attitudes toward nature, negative attitudes, and concerns about being in nature. This three-part structure held up under further testing, and each category showed strong internal consistency (i.e., meaning the questions within each group reliably measured the same thing).

The resulting scale also proved to be strongly linked to people’s intentions to spend time in nature and their actual time spent there, with large effect sizes.

In short, the study produced a reliable, valid tool for measuring attitudes toward spending time in nature — one that could help design better programs to get more adults outdoors.

Abstract

Time spent in nature (TSN) is related to improved health and well-being; however, many adults spend little time in nature. Interventions based on health behavior theories may be effective at increasing TSN. Attitudes toward a behavior have been shown to be a strong predictor of both intention and behaviors, but valid and reliable measures regarding these attitudes are lacking. The study aim was to develop a valid and reliable attitude toward TSN scale. This scale was developed using a sequential procedure: domain identification and item generation, content validity, question pretesting, survey administration, item reduction, factors extraction, dimensionality, reliability, and validity. The investigative team generated 49 unique items. Content validity and pretesting reduced the item set to 21. A countrywide sample of 2109 adults (50.3% male, median age = 58.1; 38.8% non-White) completed an online survey. Using split-half measures, principal components analysis indicated a three-factor solution: positive attitudes, negative attitudes, and concerns about being in nature. The factor structure was upheld in confirmatory factor analyses with strong internal consistency (α = 0.92 positive attitudes; 0.84 negative attitudes; 0.84 concerns). The scales were strongly related to intentions and TSN with large effect sizes. The study resulted in a reliable and valid three-factor attitudes toward spending time in nature scale that could be used to develop interventions to increase TSN.