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

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 conn...

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Autores principales: Capaldi, Colin A., Dopko, Raelyne L., Zelenski, John M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4157607/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25249992
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00976
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author Capaldi, Colin A.
Dopko, Raelyne L.
Zelenski, John M.
author_facet Capaldi, Colin A.
Dopko, Raelyne L.
Zelenski, John M.
author_sort Capaldi, Colin A.
collection PubMed
description 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.
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spelling pubmed-41576072014-09-23 The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis Capaldi, Colin A. Dopko, Raelyne L. Zelenski, John M. Front Psychol Psychology 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. Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-09-08 /pmc/articles/PMC4157607/ /pubmed/25249992 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00976 Text en Copyright © 2014 Capaldi, Dopko and Zelenski. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Capaldi, Colin A.
Dopko, Raelyne L.
Zelenski, John M.
The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis
title The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis
title_full The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis
title_fullStr The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis
title_full_unstemmed The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis
title_short The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis
title_sort relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4157607/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25249992
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00976
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