Meta‐analysis of human connection to nature and proenvironmental behavior

Abstract

Understanding what drives environmentally protective or destructive behavior is important to the design and implementation of effective public policies to encourage people's engagement in proenvironmental behavior (PEB). Research shows that a connection to nature is associated with greater engagement in PEB. However, the variety of instruments and methods used in these studies poses a major barrier to integrating research findings. We conducted a meta-analysis of the relationship between connection to nature and PEB. We identified studies through a systematic review of the literature and used Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software to analyze the results from 37 samples (n = 13,237) and to test for moderators. A random-effects model demonstrated a positive and significant association between connection to nature and PEB (r = 0.42, 95% CI 0.36, 0.47, p < 0.001). People who are more connected to nature reported greater engagement in PEB. Standard tests indicated little effect of publication bias in the sample. There was significant heterogeneity among the samples. Univariate categorical analyses showed that the scales used to measure connection to nature and PEB were significant moderators and explained the majority of the between-study variance. The geographic location of a study, age of participants, and the percentage of females in a study were not significant moderators. We found that a deeper connection to nature may partially explain why some people behave more proenvironmentally than others and that the relationship is ubiquitous. Facilitating a stronger connection to nature may result in greater engagement in PEB and conservation, although more longitudinal studies with randomized experiments are required to demonstrate causation.Keywords: connectedness to nature, conservation behavior, ecological behavior, human-nature relationship Metaanálisis de la Conexión Humana con la Naturaleza y el Comportamiento a Favor del Ambiental Resumen: El entendimiento de los conductores del comportamiento de protección o destrucción ambien-* email julie.whitburn@vuw.ac.nz Article impact statement: Interventions designed to facilitate a stronger connection to nature may result in greater engagement in proenvironmental behavior.

From Egoism to Ecoism: Psychedelics Increase Nature Relatedness in a State-Mediated and Context-Dependent Manner

“…This relationship was found to be mediated by people's degree of nature relatedness, particularly their self-identification with nature [43]. Environmental values and behaviours-plus nature relatedness-have been identified as being strongly linked in a number of studies [2,14,16,17,55,64,156], with the latter being the best predictor of ecologically conscious behaviour [65]. Pro-environmental behaviour has been found to be strongly linked to prosocial behaviour, with an increase in one fostering an increase in the other through their mutually enhancing interrelationship [157].…”

“…Specifically, nature relatedness has been found to be associated with lower levels of anxiety [57,60], a greater perceived meaning in life [26,55], higher vitality [61], higher psychological functioning [62], greater happiness and positive affect [55,57,63]. Nature relatedness has also been found to be a strong predictor of pro-environmental awareness, attitudes, and behaviour [14,16,17,51,64], outperforming all other variables tested as a single construct [65].…”

“…This growing disconnection from the natural environment appears to be explained, in part, by the increasing usage of electronic entertainment technology [7,8], and is reflected by a shift in Western cultural products away from nature-based content in media such as books, music, and film since the 1950s [9,10]. Considering the global burden of mental health problems, depression being the leading cause of disability worldwide [11], plus the ongoing mass extinction and environmental destruction our planet's inhabitants are currently suffering due to human actions, identifying an effective way of enhancing nature connectedness would potentially be of great benefit to human well-being and the environment at large [12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. This becomes especially salient in light of the present lack of effective interventions for reducing people's environmentally destructive behaviour [19].…”

From mother to Mother Nature: The role of interpersonal attachment in human–nature relations

“…Understanding why and when people care about and engage with the natural world is essential at this moment in history where humanity is facing a climate crisis (World Meteorological Organization, 2019), a high burden of mental health issues (Rehm & Shield, 2019), and increasing urbanization (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2019). The promotion of nature connectedness could provide a unique route for addressing all three of these societal challenges given nature connectedness' well-supported link with proenvironmental behaviour (Mackay & Schmitt, 2019;Whitburn et al, 2019), positive mental health (Capaldi et al, 2014;Pritchard et al, 2019), and spending time outdoors in nature (e.g., Tam, 2013a).…”

“…One psychological characteristic that has been shown to consistently predict proenvironmental attitudes and behaviours is nature connectedness-the degree to which an individual identifies with and feels subjectively connected to the natural world (e.g., Tam, 2013a). 1 People who report a stronger connection with nature are more likely to express concern about environmental issues, support environmental causes and organizations, call themselves an environmentalist, and engage in sustainable behaviours like recycling (e.g., Mayer & Frantz, 2004;Nisbet, Zelenski, & Murphy, 2009;Tam, 2013a; also see recent meta-analyses by Schmitt, 2019 andWhitburn, Linklater, &Abrahamse, 2019). Beyond implications that nature connectedness might have for the well-being of the natural environment, it has also been implicated in the well-being of 1 I broadly use the terms 'nature', 'natural world', and 'natural environment' throughout this document in a manner that is consistent with how they are commonly construed and operationalized in environmental psychology research.…”