Validation of a Chinese version of the Nature Relatedness Scale (NRS-C)

This study aimed to validate the Chinese version of the Nature Relatedness Scale (NRSC). Building on previous studies that had completed the translation and back-translation of the original English scale, this study first evaluated item comprehensibility with two participants groups (N = 64, N = 40). A total of 692 university students from three Chinese universities were then recruited for further validation. Item analysis showed good discriminative ability, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) suggested removing items 4 and 13 to enhance applicability. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the three-factor structure of the NRSC, with the second-order model demonstrating a good fit after removing items 3 and 6 (χ²/df = 2.508, NFI = 0.888, RFI = 0.863, IFI = 0.934, TLI = 0.918, CFI = 0.933, RMSEA = 0.061), indicating strong structural validity. The NRS-C showed a significant correlation with the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) (r = 0.71), demonstrating high convergent validity. Internal consistency coefficients (NR-self: 0.88, NR-perspective: 0.75, NR-experience: 0.71, Total: 0.91) confirmed high reliability. These findings suggest that the NRSC, with 17 items across three dimensions, is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing nature relatedness among Chinese university students.