Ecological Grief Scale development-the youth (EcoGriefYouth)

The aim of the study is to develop a scale that will allow examining young people's experiences in ecological grief processes, has been analyzed for validity and reliability, and can be used as a social diagnostic tool. The research is a methodological type study and was conducted between January 12, 2022 and January 22, 2024. The research population consists of undergraduate students between the ages of 18-25. 60 people participated in the pilot application, 320 people in the trial application, and 81 people in the test-retest application. . Five-point Likert type was chosen as the measurement method and the Kübler-Ross Five-Stage Grief Model was determined as the conceptual framework. The item pool was created from 40 items in five sub-dimensions, and expert opinions were received from 23 experts from different disciplines in two different stages. Cronbach's alpha was found to be 0.83, Spearman-Brown was 0.87 and Guttman Split-half was 0.87. After Principal Components Analysis and Varimax Rotation of the 18-item scale, the eigenvalue was found to be 1.49%, the variance was 8.29% and the total variance was 54.98%. The four-factor, 18-item EcoGriefYouth Scale with factor loadings above 0.32 was developed. The developed scale can be evaluated not as a clinical diagnostic tool but as a social diagnostic tool that can be used by researchers from all disciplines. Studies on the processes young people go through regarding ecological grief will serve as a social early warning for social problems that may arise.