This paper suggests that topophilia can be used as a theoretical guide to better understand the collecting behavior of children, their place memories, and their connections to specific outdoor places. Topophilia refers to the love of, or emotional connections with, physical places. The understanding that actual places of childhood experience may be critical for the development of a relationship with nature serves as a foundation for this study.
Researchers used surveys and semi-structured interviews with a sample of Swedish university students to collect information about their memories of childhood collecting in nature. The survey was sent through e-mail to a randomly chosen sample of 5000 undergraduate students attending a university in Sweden. Students responding to the survey (N=380) represented 40 different major fields of study. Representation was highest in the areas of teacher training (23%) and nursing (13%) -- the two largest majors at the university. Survey questions addressed different aspects of collecting behavior during childhood. Collecting behavior was defined broadly as gathering items from nature as a part of play or hobby. Other survey questions asked about frequency and age of collecting, motivations for collecting, places of collecting, and whether collecting was done alone or with other people. The participants were also asked to describe their memories of a special place for collecting and to complete three items from an environmental connectedness scale. Thirteen of the survey respondents participated in follow-up interviews during which they shared more detailed information about items collected, motivations for collecting, support and/or discouragement from others, when and why they stopped collecting, places of collecting, and feelings of nature affiliation.
Findings indicated that collecting was a common childhood behavior, with 88% of the participants reporting that they had (at least occasionally) collected items from nature as a child. Fifty-six percent remembered collecting in nature between the ages of 3 and 5, and 88% between 6 and 8. After the age of 8, there was a decline in collecting behavior, due in part to life changes and changes in interest. Themes emerging from the integrated analysis of surveys and interviews included sensory experience, important places, access/freedom/agency, family and place, and connection to nature. Common items collected included rocks, shells, leaves, feathers, seeds, and berries. Common sites for collecting included “at home”, “places during travel”, and “park/nature reserve within walking distance”. Nearly half of the participants remembered specific sites for collecting and shared details of these places. The extent of childhood collecting was positively associated with environmental connectedness.
This research provides potential support for topophilia as a way to understand childhood collecting. It also calls attention to the importance of family in supporting children's engagement with nature and of access to nearby nature as an essential feature of childhood experience.
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