An Assessment of Factors Related to Ocean Literacy Based on Gender-Invariance Measurement

Liang-Ting Tsai, Yen-Ling Lin and Cheng-Chieh Chang
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Liang-Ting Tsai: Taiwan Marine Education Center, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 20224, Taiwan
Yen-Ling Lin: Taiwan Marine Education Center, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 20224, Taiwan
Cheng-Chieh Chang: Institute of Education & Center of Teacher Education, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 20224, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 19, 1-12

Abstract: This study sought to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how the factors of parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean influence the ocean literacy of students in Taiwan after establishing measurement invariance across genders. The analyzed data were collected from self-reported questionnaires filled out by students aged 16–18 years old. The students’ ocean literacy was used as the outcome variable, while parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean were employed as the independent variables. The effects of parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean on ocean literacy were estimated with a multi-group structural equation model. Of the final total of 945 valid respondents in this study, 58.1% were male and 41.9% were female. The results from the multiple-group analysis supported measurement invariance across the genders. After establishing gender invariance, it was further found that higher degrees of parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean were positively related to ocean literacy. A considerable contribution was detected between parental education level and ocean literacy that was indirectly related through student attitude toward the ocean in the female student.

Keywords: ocean literacy; environmental education; parental education level; attitude toward ocean; measurement invariance; multiple-group SEM (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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