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Further Validation of the Motivation Toward the Environment Scale

The department of psychology at the University of Michigan.

Richard Koestner

McGill University.

Natasha Lekes

Harvard University's Graduate School of Education.

A study was conducted to further validate the Motivation Toward the Environment Scale (MTES). Results confirmed both the convergent and discriminant validity of the MTES by showing that peer reports corresponded to self-reports of environmental self-regulation and that environmental self-regulation was relatively distinct from self-regulation in academic and political domains. Results also pointed to some possible sources of autonomous self-regulation. Individuals were more likely to engage in autonomous environmental behaviors if (a) their parents had shown an interest in their developing attitudes about the environment, (b) their peers supported their freedom to make decisions about the environment, and (c) they had already developed life aspirations such as concern for their community. Finally, results confirmed the adaptive value of developing an autonomous regulatory style toward environmental activities. Thus, autonomous individuals were shown to report stable proenvironmental attitudes over time, a greater number of environmental behaviors, and higher levels of well-being.

Key Words: environment • motivation • autonomy • self-regulation • self-determination

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