Abstract
Nature connectedness relates to an individual’s subjective sense of their relationship with the natural world. A recent meta-analysis has found that people who are more connected to nature also tend to have higher levels of self-reported hedonic well-being; however, no reviews have focussed on nature connection and eudaimonic well-being. This meta-analysis was undertaken to explore the relationship of nature connection with eudaimonic well-being and to test the hypothesis that this relationship is stronger than that of nature connection and hedonic well-being. From 20 samples (n = 4758), a small significant effect size was found for the relationship of nature connection and eudaimonic well-being (r = 0.24); there was no significant difference between this and the effect size (from 30 samples n = 11,638) for hedonic well-being (r = 0.20). Of the eudaimonic well-being subscales, personal growth had a moderate effect size which was significantly larger than the effect sizes for autonomy, purpose in life/meaning, self-acceptance, positive relations with others and environmental mastery, but not vitality. Thus, individuals who are more connected to nature tend to have greater eudaimonic well-being, and in particular have higher levels of self-reported personal growth.
Highlights
Many would argue that nature and the human psyche are inextricably linked, and that this relationship is of fundamental importance to human and environmental health: the risks of being disconnected from nature are the development of behaviours and attitudes that damage our physical and mental health and cause irreparable harm to the planet (Mayer and Frantz 2004)
The hypothesis that nature connectedness (NC) would be more strongly associated with eudaimonic well-being (EWB) than it is with hedonic well-being (HWB) was not supported, and there may be a number of possible explanations for this
The effect size for personal growth was significantly larger than all the other eudaimonic subscales, except for vitality, and was significantly larger than the effect size for life satisfaction. These findings suggest that, in order to further explore the relationship between NC and EWB, it may be fruitful to focus on specific aspects of EWB rather than on composite measures
Summary
Many would argue that nature and the human psyche are inextricably linked, and that this relationship is of fundamental importance to human and environmental health: the risks of being disconnected from nature are the development of behaviours and attitudes that damage our physical and mental health and cause irreparable harm to the planet (Mayer and Frantz 2004). Individuals commonly report feeling emotionally close to, and an integral part of nature, and this is reflected in the construct of nature connectedness (NC) (Mayer and Frantz 2004). The importance of this sense of relatedness is evidenced by numerous studies linking NC with a range of well-being measures including hedonic (‘feeling good’) and eudaimonic (‘functioning well’) indicators (e.g. Capaldi et al 2014; Howell et al 2011; Nisbet and Zelenski 2013; Pensini et al 2016). NC is known to predict pro-environmental behaviours (Mayer and Frantz 2004) and such behaviours, because they can be costly, time-consuming or difficult, may be more likely to lead to EWB but not HWB (Venhoeven et al 2013). As NC is known to increase over time if individuals visit nature frequently (Richardson et al 2016a), it is plausible that NC is more strongly associated with EWB than HWB for this additional reason
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
