Connection to nature is a multidimensional construct consisting of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral traits which can fluctuate over time. Conservation initiatives often include efforts to connect people with nature as a way to motivate pro-environmental behaviors. To maximize the effectiveness of such efforts, it's important to identify age groups requiring more engagement. This research aimed to gain a better understanding of how people's connection to nature tends to differ at different ages.
Approximately 400 individuals (age 5-75) completed a face-to-face questionnaire incorporating two popular measures of connection to nature: the short- form Nature Relatedness Scale (NR-6) and the Connection to Nature Index (CNI). The NR- 6 yields a temporally stable measure of an individual's connection to nature. Items on the NR-6 address cognitive, affective, and experiential dimensions of connection to nature. The CNI is a trait measure of connection to nature, which includes items focusing on enjoyment, oneness, empathy, and responsibility. Personality traits tend to be fairly steady and enduring over time. The questionnaire also collected such demographic information as age and gender.
Results showed clear age-related patterns in people's connection to nature. Results also revealed specific “breakpoints” associated with differences in feelings of connection. “Breakpoints” are “specific age points where the strength or direction of relationship between age and connection changed to the greatest extent.” Both NR-6 and CNI results showed that "breakpoints" occurred during the teenage years. Connection to nature was significantly lower among teenagers than in children under the age of 12; and the lowest connection scores were among 15- to 16-year-old youth. After that, there tended to be a rise in connection to nature through the early 20s, at which time, connectedness tended to reach a plateau that lasted to the end of one's life. Results of both measures also revealed a difference in connection to nature between males and females, with males generally reporting lower levels of connection than females.
These findings call attention to “the importance of developing audience-specific nature conservation interventions in both policy and practice.” For conservation initiatives to be maximally effective, efforts to connect people with nature should be on older teenagers before and as they enter adulthood. Additionally, conservation interventions focusing on pro-environmental behaviors may be more successful if targeted to sectors of the population with higher levels of connection to nature.
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