Abstract
The benefits of natural environments for health and wellbeing are well-established, but less is known about their links human behaviour. This thesis presents a conceptual model proposing that increased contact with - and psychological connection to – nature will be associated with: a) a lower prevalence of health risk behaviours, and b) greater engagement with pro-environmental behaviours, via positive affect, negative affect, community cohesion and temporal discounting. Studies 1-3 used representative cross-sectional datasets to systematically investigate the associations between different types of nature contact, nature connectedness and behavioural outcomes. Study 4 used a bespoke cross-sectional survey to test the full conceptual model, including the proposed mediators. It was found that nature-behaviour associations differ, in both direction and strength, as a function of: a) the type of nature contact, and b) behavioural outcome. Specifically, after accounting for a range of covariates, residential nature contact (greenspace, green views) was associated with a lower prevalence of health risk behaviours (current smoking, exceeding alcohol guidelines, poor diets), as well as greater engagement household pro-environmental behaviours. Intentional nature contact (nature visits) was linked to a lower prevalence of poor diets and greater engagement in household pro-environmental behaviours. Indirect nature contact (watching/listening to nature media) was associated with a higher prevalence of current smoking and exceeding alcohol guidelines, as well as a lower prevalence of poor diets and more sustainable behaviours across domains (household, nature conservation). Nature connectedness was most consistently related to a lower prevalence of poor diets and greater engagement in pro-environmental behaviours (household, nature conservation). There was evidence that, under some circumstances, nature connectedness moderated nature-behaviour associations. Additionally, associations between nature contact/connectedness and behavioural outcomes were mediated by somewhat different combinations of positive affect, negative affect, community cohesion and temporal discounting. The complexity of the findings indicates that a more nuanced approach to the study of human-nature interactions is likely to be necessary to inform integrated environmental policies that are beneficial to both human and planetary health.
Awarding Institution(s)
University of Plymouth
Supervisor
Jon May, Sabine Pahl, Mathew White
Keywords
Nature, Greenspace, Health Behaviour, Pro-environmental behaviour, Affect, Temporal discounting, social cohesion
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Date
2022
Deposit Date
June 2024
Additional Links
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Martin, L. (2022) Behavioural determinants of human and planetary health: the role of nature contact and nature connectedness.. Thesis. University of Plymouth. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.24382/664
