ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN AND THE DIMENSIONALITY PROBLEM - A NEW APPROACHTO AN OLD PREDICAMENT

Objective. Much previous work in the field of survey research has puzz led over modest bivariate correlations between different environmental measures, suggesting that public attitudes on the environment are rat her crude, disconnected, and narrowly focused. Using 1991 Gallup data, the purpose of this research is to present a methodological critique and reevaluation of the literature on the dimensionality of environmen tal concern. Methods. Given the frequent, yet problematic, use of envi ronmental batteries that ask respondents to express opinions using a c ommon response format, this paper uses confirmatory factor analysis to correct for both random and nonrandom sources of measurement error. R esults. Data results suggest that not only can the standard environmen tal battery used by Gallup be reduced to relatively few latent factors , those factors are themselves strongly correlated across a diverse se t of environmental issues, as well as among several broad idea element s thought to define environmental concern. Conclusions. While current results offer compelling evidence of the near unidimensionality of env ironmental attitudes, and of the willingness of many Americans to expr ess concern for environmental quality, ultimately dimensionality alone may he insufficient proof that public attitudes on the environment ha ve matured into a sophisticated and constrained social paradigm or bel ief system.