The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis

By C. Capaldi, R. Dopko, John M. Zelenski. Frontiers in Psychology, 2014

1,041 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Research suggests that contact with nature can be beneficial, for example leading to improvements in mood, cognition, and health. A distinct but related idea is the personality construct of subjective nature connectedness, a stable individual difference in cognitive, affective, and experiential connection with the natural environment. Subjective nature connectedness is a strong predictor of pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors that may also be positively associated with subjective well-being. This meta-analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between nature connectedness and happiness. Based on 30 samples (n = 8523), a fixed-effect meta-analysis found a small but significant effect size (r = 0.19). Those who are more connected to nature tended to experience more positive affect, vitality, and life satisfaction compared to those less connected to nature. Publication status, year, average age, and percentage of females in the sample were not significant moderators. Vitality had the strongest relationship with nature connectedness (r = 0.24), followed by positive affect (r = 0.22) and life satisfaction (r = 0.17). In terms of specific nature connectedness measures, associations were the strongest between happiness and inclusion of nature in self (r = 0.27), compared to nature relatedness (r = 0.18) and connectedness to nature (r = 0.18). This research highlights the importance of considering personality when examining the psychological benefits of nature. The results suggest that closer human-nature relationships do not have to come at the expense of happiness. Rather, this meta-analysis shows that being connected to nature and feeling happy are, in fact, connected.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7c63aa16d09c08630a084a7065192469066b22c0

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Citations in the corpus

Applying the pathways to nature connectedness at a societal scale: a leverage points perspective (2020, background): “However, nature connectedness is about relationships and it has been argued that one dimension of its benefits to wellbeing relate to fulfilling the human need for connectedness, typically met through social connections (Capaldi et al. 2014; Zelenski and Nisbet 2014).”
Are Some Natural Environments More Psychologically Beneficial Than Others? The Importance of Type and Quality on Connectedness to Nature and Psychological Restoration (2019, background): “…et al., 11 2009), the alternative direction had also been suggested by Nisbet and Zelenski (2011), and the general mutual 12 association between the two variables has been widely demonstrated (Capaldi et al., 2014; Cervinka et al., 2012; 13 Howell et al., 2011; Tam, 2013; Zelenski & Nisbet, 2014).”
A Measure of Nature Connectedness for Children and Adults: Validation, Performance, and Insights (2019, background): “It was included as happiness is a key well-being outcome associated with nature connectedness [6,54].”
From Awe to Ecological Behavior: The Mediating Role of Connectedness to Nature (2018, background): “The connection with nature functions in the same way [20].”
The mediating role of place attachment between nature connectedness and human well-being: perspectives from Japan (2019, background): “Several studies have reported the association between nature connectedness and well-being (Howell et al. 2011, 2013; Nisbet and Zelenski 2013; Capaldi et al. 2014; Passmore and Howell 2014), and suggest that nature connectedness is associated with the extent to which people are happy and flourishing”
Moments, not minutes: The nature-wellbeing relationship (2021, background): “org 9 mental health and wellbeing has been well established through a wealth of consistent evidence (see reviews Bratman et al., 2019; Capaldi et al., 2014; Capaldi et al., 2015, Howell & Passmore, 2013; Pritchard et al., 2019).”
Into the Wild: The Effects of 360° Immersive Nature Videos on Feelings of Commitment to the Environment (2019, background): “A meta-analysis confirmed that environmental connectedness was positively associated with positive affect, life satisfaction, and vitality (Capaldi et al., 2014).”
Flourishing in nature: A review of the benefits of connecting with nature and its application as a wellbeing intervention (2015, background): “Finally, meta-analytic results show that those with a stronger connection with nature than others tend to report a greater sense of vitality (Capaldi et al., 2014).”
Joy and Calm: How an Evolutionary Functional Model of Affect Regulation Informs Positive Emotions in Nature (2016, background): “For example, there has been a body of research that considers positive outcomes of nature engagement, such as improved vitality (Capaldi et al. 2014).”
Extinction of experience: the loss of human–nature interactions (2016, background): “Importantly, these positive emotional changes are not only triggers for environmental attitudes and behavior, but are also closely associated with psychological health and well- being, by helping to improve such factors as vitality and life satisfaction (Figure 2 e; Capaldi et al. 2014 ).”
Nature contact, nature connectedness and associations with health, wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviours (2020, background): “Discussion Growing detachment from the natural world may be a factor in poor mental and physical health (Twohig-Bennett & Jones, 2018; Lovell, Depledge & Maxwell, 2018; Capaldi et al. 2014) as well as a reduced propensity for environmentally sustainable behaviours (Weinstein et al.”
Nature contact and mood benefits: contact duration and mood type (2018, methodology): “For the purposes of this research, we adopt the definition proposed by Capaldi et al. (2015): environments and physical features of non-human origin, ranging from landscapes to single species of plants or animals.”
The extended Inclusion of Nature in Self scale (2016, methodology): “Finally, we also includedmoodmeasures because extant research indicates that positive affective states may be positively related to self-nature connection (Capaldi et al., 2014).2”