Perceived environmental risk and community attachment in agricultural communities of the Culiacán Valley

Agricultural communities in the Culiacán Valley live next to intensively farmed fields, which raises questions about how residents perceive environmental risk and how they relate to their community. Using the preliminary data cut from the pilot survey of project FZ-HAB-0032 on the Factoriza UAS platform, this study described the initial behaviour of a ten-item scale with two dimensions, Environmental concern in the community and Community attachment, among residents of agricultural communities in the Culiacán Valley. With a cross-sectional design, 12 cases out of a target of 100 were analysed while data collection remained open. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alpha, McDonald’s omega total, an exploratory factor analysis and the Spearman correlation between dimensions were estimated. Internal consistency was moderate for Environmental concern (α = .664; ω = .748) and for Community attachment (α = .665), with omega not interpretable for the latter. Sampling adequacy was very low (KMO = .383) and the two suggested factors did not reproduce the intended dimensions. The correlation between dimensions included zero (ρ = -.342). Residents expressed concern about water and air, identified with their community and took pride in its agricultural work, yet most would move elsewhere if they could. The findings do not yet provide structural validity evidence and suggest distinguishing identity from intention to stay when measuring attachment.