Connection to nature is associated with social-emotional learning of children

Abstract

When assessing the link between nature exposure and social-emotional or proximal outcomes of children, few studies have included the psychological connection to nature as a mediating variable. We determined the association between children's connection to nature and their overall social-emotional learning (SEL) skills, self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. The final study sample of children ages 8–10 (n = 138) originated from three elementary schools serving majority economically disadvantaged Latino households in communities with relatively low access to nature in Austin, Texas, United States, in 2019. SEL skills originated from a survey administered annually by the school district. Output from ordinary least squares regression models in which nature connection was measured using the Connection to Nature Index and that adjusted for gender, race, ethnicity, grade, and school found children's connection to nature was directly associated with higher overall SEL skills (β = 0.29; 95% CI [0.13, 0.45]; p = 0.001); self-awareness (β = 0.46; 95% CI [0.29, 0.64]; p = 0.001); self-management (β = 0.34; 95% CI [0.09, 0.60]; p = 0.009); and relationship skills (β = 0.39; 95% CI [0.10, 0.68]; p = 0.009). Results suggest children's connection to nature may positively impact their SEL skills. We recommend developing nature-based SEL interventions with explicit focus on strengthening children's psychological connection to nature.