Abstract
Human–nature relationships are an important aspect of leisure research. Previous studies also reported that nature-related activities have a health benefit. In this study, we surveyed US-American birdwatchers at two time points during the COVID pandemic (independent samples). During the beginning of the COVID pandemic in spring 2020, we analyzed their comments with an AI sentiment analysis. Approximately one year later (winter 2020/21), during the second wave, the study was repeated, and a second data set was analyzed. Here we show that during the ongoing pandemic, the sentiments became more negative. This is an important result because it shows that despite the positive impact of nature on mental health, the sentiments become more negative in the enduring pandemic.
Highlights
Human–nature relationships are an important aspect of leisure research
Our results suggest that even though the frequency of bird watching has increased during the pandemic [23], other aspects of birding, including travelling to special places to see rare species, attending birding festivals, and birding in groups, has changed, which most likely led to a shift towards more negative sentiments during the pandemic
Highly specialized birders, i.e., birders with a high level of commitment [46], are more likely to feel restricted in their birding activities by travel restrictions than less involved birders
Summary
Human–nature relationships are an important aspect of leisure research. Previous studies reported that nature-related activities have a health benefit. In 2020, the outbreak of COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) affected most people’s daily lives, both at the workplace and during leisure activities [1,2,3] This pandemic represents a substantial threat to health [4,5]. State-imposed restrictions such as lockdowns, working-from-home policies and closings of kindergarten and schools to curb the transmission of the virus had an impact on human–nature interactions as well as outdoor activities [12,13] This has severe impacts on mental and physical health because outdoor leisure activities are known to provide important recreational ecosystem services such as stress relief [14] and an increased sense of wellbeing [15]. Recent studies during the pandemic showed that people in Burlington, Vermont, USA, increased their visitation rate to nature areas [18,19]
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