Age and connection to nature: when is engagement critical?

By Joelene Hughes, Mike Rogerson, J. Barton, Rachel Bragg. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2019

150 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Conservation organizations are increasingly aware of the need to motivate pro‐environmental behavior by connecting people with nature. However, to maximize the effectiveness of the limited resources available, there needs to be a better understanding of the variability in people's connection to nature shown at different ages. We examined connection to nature among people aged 5–75 years, using two popular measures, in a cross‐sectional UK sample, based on the hypothesis that there would be clear, age‐related patterns in people's connection to nature, with specific “breakpoints” associated with differences in feelings of connection. Data were collected across a variety of locations. Analysis of generalized additive models revealed similar age‐related patterns for both measures, with connection declining from childhood to an overall low in the mid‐teens, followed by a rise to the early 20s and reaching a plateau that lasts to the end of the lifetime. Both measures also showed that females generally had higher connection scores than males. These findings have implications for conservation action.

Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7a321edb6abe68469ce9fe876e3ff663011197af

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. A. Hunt
  2. Miles Richardson
  3. Lea Barbett
  4. Rachel Bragg
  5. J. Hinds

In Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

  1. A. Hunt
  2. Miles Richardson
  3. Rachel Bragg
  4. J. Hinds

In Social Psychology

  1. A. Hunt
  2. Miles Richardson
  3. Rachel Bragg

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