Modified Two Major Environmental Values scale for measuring Chinese children’s environmental attitudes

The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale is used worldwide to predict people’s environmental worldviews. However, some researchers criticize its unidimensional structure and limited ability to predict pro-environmental behavior (PEB). The Two Major Environmental Values (2-MEV) scale, which considers environmental attitudes in two dimensions—preservation and utilization—may overcome these deficiencies. To examine if the 2-MEV exceeds the NEP scale in predictability of people’s environmental attitudes in China and its applicability to Chinese children, we modified the 2-MEV scale in Chinese and used it to question 490 students (aged 9–12) in China. The results show that the modified version demonstrated good reliability and internal consistency. Furthermore, the 2-MEV demonstrated significantly a higher predictive power of PEB than the NEP. We thus contend the 2-MEV is a promising measurement for gauging Chinese children’s environmental attitudes. The application of the 2-MEV in different contexts and the improvement of NEP was discussed.