Environmental Action and Locus of Control: Validation of the Perceived Environmental Control Measure
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Date
1983-05Author
Tulman, Jonathan E.
Publisher
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, College of Natural Resources
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Show full item recordAbstract
The major purpose of this research was to gather data
on the construct validity on the Perceived Environmental
Control Measure (PECM), a questionnaire designed to measure
Locus of Control specific to environmental activism, and to
investigate the potential influence of social desirability
on subjects' responses. Test instruments were administered
to the following populations: A) college students enrolled in
an environmental interpretation class (N=45); B) college students
enrolled in a psychology class (N=37); C) members of
the Aldo Leopold Audubon Society (N=54).
In order to assess construct validity, Pearson Product-
Moment correlations were made between a measure of citizen/
environmental action and the Internal (I) , Powerful Others (P) ,
and Chance (C) subscales of the PECM for each of the populations.
To determine the influence of social desirability,
Pearson Product-Moment correlations were made between the
Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS) and the I,
P, and C subscales for each of the populations.
The data indicated that a significant relationship (p<.05)
existed between citizen/environmental action scores and the I,
P, and C scales for only the Audubon group. The highest correlation
was r = -.313. No significant relationship existed
between citizen/environmental action scores and the I, P, and
C scales for either the environmental interpretation students or the psychology students. The data further indicated that
a significant relationship (p<.OS) existed between the MCSDS
and the I subscale for only the psychology students. No significant
relationship existed between the MCSDS and any of
the subscales for either of the other research groups, or
between the MCSDS and the P and C subscales for the psychology
students.
Implications of these results and recommendations for
future research are discussed.