Predictors of Nature Connection Among Urban Residents: Assessing the Role of Childhood and Adult Nature Experiences

By Anne Cleary, Kelly S. Fielding, Zoȅ Murray, A. Roiko. Environment and Behavior, 2018

126 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Fostering nature connection may promote psychological well-being and enhance proenvironmental attitudes. However, there is limited understanding of what factors influence a person’s nature connection. Using survey responses from 1,000 residents of a large Australian city, we describe the relationship between nature connection and nature experiences at different stages in life, that is, past nature experiences that occurred during childhood, and current, everyday nature experiences. Both past childhood nature experiences and duration of current nature experiences significantly predicted nature connection. The positive relationship between duration of current nature experiences and nature connection was not significantly moderated by past childhood nature experiences. Hence, current nature experiences are associated with high levels of nature connection, even among those lacking childhood nature experiences. This research empirically demonstrates the positive relationship between nature connection and nature experiences, and suggests that it may be equally important to promote nature experiences at any life stage if increasing nature connection is the goal.

Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Plant Science, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/349b8f00077c901fcc1f0e752461faa9dac3a70e

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

1. Silvia Collado
2. Claudio D. Rosa
3. Priska L. Breves
4. Vivien Heber
5. J. A. Corraliza

In Plant Science

1. Silvia Collado

In Sociology and Political Science

1. Priska L. Breves
2. Vivien Heber
3. Claudio D. Rosa
4. Lincoln R. Larson
5. Silvia Collado

Citations in the corpus

• Into the Wild: The Effects of 360° Immersive Nature Videos on Feelings of Commitment to the Environment (2019, background): “While these results are promising, and contact with nature has been identified as one of the best interventions (e.g. Cleary et al., 2018; Ernst & Theimer, 2011), direct contact is not always possible (e.g. White et al., 2018).”
• Gender Differences in Connection to Nature, Outdoor Preferences, and Nature-Based Recreation Among College Students in Brazil and the United States (2020, background): “, 2019), even when controlling for variables such as gender (Cleary et al., 2020).”