📄 social_science

Psychometric Properties of the Persian version of the Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale (HEAS-P)

This study validates the Persian version of the Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale (HEAS-P) in a large Iranian sample, demonstrating its robust reliability, four-factor structure, measurement invariance across genders, and strong convergent and discriminant validity for assessing eco-anxiety in Persian-speaking populations.

Original authors: Jafar Hasani, Fatemeh Jafari

Published 2026-06-29

📖 5 min read🧠 Deep dive

CC BY 4.0

Original authors: Jafar Hasani, Fatemeh Jafari

Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ✨ This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer

Imagine you have a new thermometer designed to measure a very specific kind of fever: not a fever from a virus, but a "fever" caused by worrying about the planet's future. This paper is the quality control report for a new version of that thermometer, translated into Persian for people living in Iran.

Here is the story of how they built and tested this tool, explained in everyday terms.

The Problem: A Missing Ruler

Scientists have noticed that many people are feeling anxious, scared, or sad because of climate change. They call this "eco-anxiety." In Western countries, researchers have already built a ruler to measure this feeling, called the Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale (HEAS). It's like a standard tape measure used in many homes.

However, until now, there wasn't a reliable tape measure for Persian speakers in Iran. You can't just copy a ruler from one country and use it in another; the markings might not line up, or the numbers might mean something different. The authors, Jafar Hasani and Fatemeh Jafari, wanted to see if they could translate this ruler, adjust it for the local culture, and prove it actually measures what it's supposed to.

The Experiment: Building the Persian Ruler (HEAS-P)

The researchers took the original 13-question English survey and turned it into Persian. They didn't just translate the words; they made sure the ideas stayed the same, like translating a recipe so the cake tastes the same even if the ingredients are from a different country.

They asked 601 adults in Iran to fill out this new survey. To make sure the survey was good, they compared it against other known tests (like tests for general worry or happiness) to see if it behaved the way a good eco-anxiety test should.

What They Found: The Ruler Works

The study found that the Persian version (HEAS-P) is a high-quality tool. Here is what the "quality control" tests showed:

1. It has four distinct "sides" (The Four-Factor Structure)
The original ruler wasn't just one long line; it was actually made of four different sections. The Persian version kept this shape perfectly. Think of it like a four-legged stool; if you remove one leg, it wobbles. The researchers found that the Persian stool has four sturdy legs:

Emotional Symptoms: Feeling nervous, irritable, or scared.
Overthinking: Getting stuck in a loop of worrying thoughts about the climate.
Behavioral Symptoms: Finding it hard to enjoy social events or daily life because of the worry.
Personal Impact: Feeling a heavy sense of responsibility or guilt about your own role in the environment.

The math proved that Iranian people experience eco-anxiety in these same four ways, just like people in Australia or New Zealand.

2. It is consistent and stable (Reliability)

Internal Consistency: If you asked the same person the same questions in slightly different ways, they would give similar answers. The tool is very consistent (like a scale that shows the same weight every time you step on it).
Time-Tested: They asked a small group to take the test again four weeks later. The results were almost identical. This means eco-anxiety, as measured by this tool, is a steady feeling, not just a fleeting mood that changes from hour to hour.

3. It works the same for men and women (Measurement Invariance)
Sometimes, a test might accidentally be easier for one gender to answer than another. The researchers checked this and found that the "ruler" measures men and women exactly the same way. If a man and a woman get the same score, they truly have the same level of eco-anxiety. There is no "bias" in the tool.

4. It tells the difference between "Eco-Worry" and "Just Worry" (Validity)
This is the most important part.

The Overlap: The test showed that people who worry about the climate also tend to have general anxiety or depression. This makes sense; if you are worried about the world, you are probably worried about other things too.
The Difference: However, the test proved that eco-anxiety is not just general anxiety. Even after accounting for a person's general sadness or stress, the HEAS-P still found unique "eco-worry." It's like a thermometer that can tell the difference between a fever caused by the flu and a fever caused by a heatstroke.
The Happiness Check: People who scored high on eco-anxiety tended to score lower on happiness tests. This confirmed the tool is measuring a negative feeling (worry) and not a positive one (happiness).

The Bottom Line

The paper concludes that the Persian Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale (HEAS-P) is a trustworthy, accurate, and culturally appropriate tool. It successfully captures the complex, four-part nature of worrying about the planet for Persian speakers.

The researchers state that because this tool is now proven to work, it can be used by scientists and professionals in Iran to understand how much climate worry exists in their population. They emphasize that this tool helps distinguish between general life stress and the specific, unique stress of watching the environment change.

What the paper does NOT claim:

It does not say that eco-anxiety is a new medical disease.
It does not claim to have fixed the problem or provided a cure.
It does not predict how climate change will affect Iran in the future; it only measures how people feel about it right now.
It does not suggest specific therapy methods, though it notes that understanding the "four parts" of the anxiety could help in designing future support.

In short, the paper says: "We have built a reliable ruler for eco-anxiety in Iran, and it works just as well as the original one."

Technical Summary: Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale (HEAS-P)

Problem Statement
Eco-anxiety, defined as chronic fear and emotional distress related to environmental destruction, has emerged as a critical construct in environmental mental health. However, the majority of existing research and validated assessment tools are rooted in Western contexts. There is a significant scarcity of psychometrically validated instruments for non-Western populations, particularly in regions like the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) that face acute environmental stressors such as droughts and water scarcity. The Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale (HEAS-13) is a widely used multidimensional instrument, but its reliability and validity had not been established in Persian-speaking populations. This study addresses this gap by evaluating the psychometric properties of the Persian version (HEAS-P) among Iranian adults.

Methodology
The study employed a rigorous cross-sectional design involving a large sample of Iranian adults ( $N = 601$ ). The methodology included the following phases:

Translation and Adaptation: The HEAS-13 was translated into Persian using standard forward-backward translation procedures by bilingual psychology experts, followed by a pilot study ( $n=23$ ) to ensure semantic and conceptual equivalence.
Participants and Procedure: Data were collected via online platforms (Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp) between January 2024 and February 2025. After excluding cases with excessive missing data and multivariate outliers, the final sample consisted of 601 participants.
Measures:
- HEAS-P: The primary instrument assessing four dimensions: emotional symptoms, rumination, behavioral symptoms, and anxiety about personal impact.
- Convergent Validity Measures: The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21).
- Discriminant Validity Measure: The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire – Short Form (OHQ-SF).
Statistical Analysis: Data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 24.0. Key analyses included:
- Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): To test the original four-factor structure using Maximum Likelihood estimation.
- Reliability Testing: Assessment of internal consistency (Cronbach's $\alpha$ and McDonald's $\omega$ ) and test-retest reliability (4-week interval, $n=80$ ).
- Measurement Invariance: Multi-group CFA (MG-CFA) to test configural, metric, scalar, and factor variance invariance across gender.
- Validity Testing: Correlation analyses for convergent and discriminant validity, and hierarchical regression to assess incremental validity.

Key Results

Factor Structure: Confirmatory factor analysis supported the original four-factor model, yielding excellent model fit indices (CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.041, SRMR = 0.034). All standardized factor loadings were significant ( $p < .001$ ).
Reliability: The scale demonstrated excellent internal consistency ( $\alpha = 0.94$ , $\omega = 0.95$ ). Subscale reliabilities ranged from 0.88 to 0.91. Test-retest reliability was strong ( $r = 0.84, p < .001$ ), indicating temporal stability.
Measurement Invariance: Multi-group analyses confirmed that the HEAS-P operates equivalently across genders. Configural, metric, scalar, and factor variance invariance were established, with changes in CFI ( $\Delta$ CFI) well below the 0.01 threshold, suggesting no measurement bias between men and women.
Validity:
- Convergent Validity: Significant moderate positive correlations were found between HEAS-P scores and general anxiety, depression, stress, and environmental worry ( $r = 0.16–0.32$ ).
- Discriminant Validity: Weak to non-significant negative correlations were observed with happiness ( $r = -0.05$ to $-0.16$), confirming the scale measures a distinct construct from general well-being.
- Incremental Validity: Hierarchical regression demonstrated that the HEAS-P accounted for unique variance in environmental worry ( $\Delta R^2 = 0.05$ ) beyond general psychological distress (DASS-21 subscales).

Significance and Claims
The authors claim that the HEAS-P is a reliable, valid, and culturally appropriate instrument for assessing eco-anxiety in Persian-speaking populations. The study's primary significance lies in:

Extending Cross-Cultural Research: It provides the first empirical evidence supporting the HEAS-13 in a non-Western, climate-vulnerable context (Iran), challenging the notion that eco-anxiety constructs are exclusively Western phenomena.
Methodological Rigor: By establishing measurement invariance across gender, the study ensures that future comparative research between men and women in Iran is not confounded by measurement bias.
Distinct Construct Validation: The findings reinforce that eco-anxiety is a multidimensional construct involving emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components that are distinct from, though related to, general psychological distress.
Practical Utility: The authors posit that the HEAS-P can be utilized in both research and clinical settings to identify individuals with elevated eco-anxiety, track changes over time, and inform the design of targeted mental health interventions and policies specific to climate-related distress in Iran and similar regions.

The paper concludes modestly, noting that while the instrument is robust, future research should explore predictive validity regarding behavioral outcomes, conduct longitudinal studies to track fluctuations over time, and validate the scale in other non-Western populations and clinical groups.

The Problem: A Missing Ruler

The Experiment: Building the Persian Ruler (HEAS-P)

What They Found: The Ruler Works

The Bottom Line

Technical Summary: Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale (HEAS-P)

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