Measuring belief in climate change with a single item
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Brief, but psychometrically valid assessments of psychological constructs are increasingly needed to be included in larger psychological and other social scientific studies, such as Many Labs projects or representative surveys. Here, we provide a novel one-item measure of individual differences in belief in climate change. Based on two studies (N = 913, N = 288) recruited from various global regions, we establish convergent, predictive, and discriminant validity. More specifically, we find that the single-item measure correlates with other constructs measuring belief in climate change and with relevant downstream constructs, among them intentions to engage in pro-environmental behavior, actual consequential behavior, and self-reported everyday behaviors. We therefore conclude that the single item is a suitable instrument to measure belief in climate change when multiple-item assessments are either too costly or otherwise unfeasible.
Source: Global Environmental Psychology
DOI: 10.5964/gep.10895
Authors: Sebastian Berger, David Hauser, Anna Lange, Sander van der Linden
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: diamond
Funder: University of Bern
OpenAlex ID: W4412035851