The Influence of Outdoor Activities and Campus Landscape on University Students’ Subjective Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 is reshaping the relationship between humans and their living environment, potentially generating a profound impact on human physical and mental health and quality of life. The objective of this study was to explore how outdoor activities and the campus landscape impacted the subjective well-being (SWB) of Chinese university students in the pre-COVID-19 era (before December 2019) and during the COVID-19 era (from December 2019 to early December 2022). This study collected 439 valid questionnaires from students at a Chinese university, with the questions focusing on the frequency and length of time that university students of different genders, grades, and abilities to cover their living expenses participated in outdoor activities in the pre- and COVID-19 eras, as well as the changes in their SWB. Paired sample t tests revealed a significant decrease in SWB during the COVID-19 era compared with the pre-COVID-19 era, while independent sample t tests and a one-way ANOVA showed that changes in the SWB of university students pre- and during COVID-19 were not related to their gender or their ability to cover their living expenses, but were related to their grades. Hierarchical linear regression showed that outdoor activities in the COVID-19 era had a significant effect on mitigating the decline in students’ SWB. These results suggest a proactive way to increase resilience to future public health challenges and other crises of human life safety.

A comparative study of subjective well-being, interpersonal relationship and love forgiveness among Chinese college students before and after the COVID-19 epidemic

“…However, the study of Baetens et al (2022) shows the pandemic does adversely affect undergraduates' subjective well-being in college. Chen and Ye (2023) found that compared with the period before the epidemic, undergraduates' subjective well-being in college had decreased significantly during the COVID-19. Krautter et al (2022) found that during the epidemic, the subjective well-being of college students decreased.…”

Linking University Campus Green Space and Students’ Mental Health and Well-Being: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Experience in university campus green space emphasizes the interaction between university students and campus natural environment. 2 studies tried to classify the interaction by students' activity types in campus green space, for example, physical activity or non-physical activity Holt et al (2019) or mental and social activity (Chen & Ye, 2023). 1 study used the presence of companion to describe the social environment when visiting campus green space .…”

“…Just as mentioned above, 1 study indicated that students who frequently did physical activities in campus green space report more positive mood and less perceived stress than those did non-physical activities (Holt et al, 2019). In contrast, another 2 studies failed to find the association between activity types and mental benefits (Lee et al, 2022;Chen & Ye, 2023). Therefore, evidence for association between types of activity in campus green space and mental health and well-being is limited.…”

A Study of Measures for Sustainable Sport

“…This trend has inevitably increased environmental concerns. Some of the main culprits highlighted for destroying ecosystems are cable cars and monorails (installed at the expense of forests to facilitate access for hikers) and jet skis, sailboats, mountain bikes, mountain motorcycles, etc., used for water or mountain sports [13].…”

“…Thus, sports have the potential to seriously damage the natural environment in many ways. One of the most serious threats is posed by the demand for "nature sports" (including skiing, skin scuba-diving, rock climbing, rafting, yachting, surfing, golf, paragliding, and other sports performed in an undeveloped natural environment), which is likely to increase in the future [12][13][14]. This is because urban areas are becoming increasingly polluted, and people thus increasingly want to return to nature; this desire is supported by economic affluence and leisure time [15,16].…”