Abstract
OBJECTIVES: This study developed and validated the precaution theory-based Environmental Parenting Scale (EPS) to assess proactive parental behaviours that reduce children's environmental risk exposure. Existing measures lack theory-based assessments of preventive parenting under environmental uncertainty. DESIGN: This study involves the development of a scale based on Kriebel's precaution theory to construct measures of environmental parenting behaviour. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: For exploratory factor analysis, 216 participants with children under the age of 18 were recruited from Jeonju, Cheonan and Milyang in South Korea between 16 September 2024 and 21 September 2024 using convenience sampling. Content validity was confirmed by three professionals. VALIDATION: The preliminary items were gathered through a literature review and in-depth interviews with 10 participants. We assessed convergence validity, known-group validity and internal consistency reliability. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a cumulative variance of 65.73% for explaining the target behaviours. RESULTS: The EPS comprises 21 items across four factors: hygiene management, natural product use, prevention of toxin exposure and protection from radiation. Convergent validity with the personal environmental health behaviours scale was supported (r=0.75, p<0.001), and Cronbach's α was 0.93. CONCLUSION: The EPS is a valid and reliable scale for measuring environmental parenting behaviours in the context of climate change and environmental diseases.