Adolescents living in an urban environment appreciate the well-being benefits of nature and look to nature for stress reliefSome studies report a drop in contact with nature during the teenage years. Other studies suggest that ideas of nature may shift from childhood to adolescence. This study sought to gain additional insights into adolescents’ view of nature by asking them to describe memorable nature experiences and the well-being effects they associate with these experiences.
Twenty-one 15-to 16-year-old urban youth participated in the study. They were recruited from two art-oriented classes in Finland. Participants were asked to use some form of art to depict their memorable experiences with nature and to describe in writing what they represented in their artwork and how the experiences impacted their well-being. This assignment was completed at home, as students were not attending in-person classes due to COVID. Artwork completed by the youth included drawings, paintings, photographs, computer graphics, and collages. Their typewritten texts varied in length from 122 to 520 words. Two questions guided the analysis of their work: what was experienced; how was it experienced as particularly memorable?
The memorable experiences depicted in the artwork ranged from everyday life events to travel experiences in far-away places. Some of the artwork focused on engagement with small elements of nature, such as flowers; other artwork focused on engagement with large natural features, such as mountains. Most of the memorable experiences occurred in familiar environments and through spontaneous nature-related events in daily life. Beauty was identified as one of the main features making a nature-related experience memorable. Other features making the experience memorable related to the cultural context, including different aspects of the Finnish landscape. Overall findings indicated that youth connect to nature through their senses and that it’s the holistic and multisensory aspects of nature experiences that make them memorable. Well-being benefits associated with the memorable nature experiences as identified by the youth include “feelings of refreshment and increased calm” and a sense of “safety and comfort.” There were also indications that experiences in natural settings can help youth cope with negative emotions and stress.
This research indicates that young people appreciate the well-being effects of nature and realize that the intentional use of nature can help them cope with stressors in their life. The findings highlight the importance of access to nature as a contributor to the mental health of youth living in urban environments. "The study also demonstrates the utility of arts-based engagement in examining young people’s experiences."
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