An attempt to assess individual differences in Shinrin-Yoku tendencies and associations with personality and life satisfaction: a study from Germany

Abstract

Shinrin-Yoku, also known as forest-bathing, has become the focus of much psychological and neuroscientific research in recent years. In this realm, it has been shown that spending time in the forest, with a focus on the forest environment, has positive effects on both cognition and emotion. Interestingly, an individual differences perspective from personality psychology is largely lacking in shedding light on the characteristics of persons reporting higher Shinrin-Yoku tendencies than others. Therefore, this study presents the psychometric properties of a new Shinrin-Yoku scale (with a focus on the recreational aspects of visiting the forest including finding peace) to assess individual differences in enjoying forest bathing tendencies. A final sample of 896 participants was analyzed not only regarding their Shinrin-Yoku tendencies, but also with respect to the Big Five of Personality traits, life satisfaction, and perceived life stress. This study shows that higher openness to experience is robustly linked to higher Shinrin-Yoku tendencies, and higher Shinrin-Yoku tendencies are also associated with higher life satisfaction. A mediation model showed that the association between openness and life satisfaction was partially mediated by Shinrin-Yoku tendencies. No significant association was observed between perceived life stress and the Shinrin-Yoku scores. This work should be just seen as the start of beginning to construct scales assessing individual differences in Shinrin-Yoku tendencies: As one will see from the items included in the here presented final brief Shinrin-Yoku scale, many facets of Shinrin-Yoku - such as mindfulness activities in the forest – need further investigation. More research is needed to grasp the broad concept of Shinrin-Yoku including its nuances.