The association between contact with nature and human health has been widely studied through cross-disciplinary research. Recreation studies have also examined motives in nature experiences. What has not been studied, however, is the extent to which motives can affect the outcomes of the nature experiences. This study addresses this gap in the literature by exploring how motives and attentional focus may partly determine the outcomes of nature visits.
This study is based on the understanding that people, as they visit natural environments, aren't passive recipients of what those environments have to offer. People actively influence their environmental experience by choosing what to focus on. Their attentional focus during their nature visit may be directed by the motives they have prior to the visit. People with a strong desire to experience nature, for example, may focus on the natural features of the environment during their visit.
This study was based on survey responses of 565 individuals who regularly visited natural environments. Almost all of them (95%) reported visiting natural environments weekly; 25% reported visiting nature every day. The respondents, who ranged in age from 15 to over 65, lived in rural (15%), suburban (13%), and urban (72%) areas of Finland. Items on the survey asked respondents to share information about the natural places they visited, the motives for their visits, their attentional focus during their visits, and their post-visit mental state. Motive-related questions addressed the desire to be physically active, to be alone, to socialize, and to experience nature. Attentional focus items related to the activity, oneself, other people, and the environment. Six items from the Restorative Outcome Scale were used to measure the post-visit mental states. These items focused on creativity, negative emotions, positive emotions. vitality and life satisfaction.
Results showed that positive mental states were common after the nature visit and negative emotions rarely experienced. Results also showed that motives and attentional focus are strongly connected to the outcomes of nature visits, and sometimes dependent on each other. The strongest direct connection was between stress reduction as a motive and increased restorativeness and emotional well-being as outcomes, suggesting that the benefits of the nature experience may result from a conscious effort to use nature to reduce stress. In contrast, for those whose motive was to experience nature, benefits were realized only when participants directed their attention to the natural features of the environment, illustrating an indirect effect. Interestingly, individuals who were motivated to seek out nature in order to be alone reported more negative well-being after the nature visit, though the effect was small. The authors speculate as to why this may be. The authors interpret their various findings in the context of Stress Reduction Theory and Attention Restoration Theory.
These findings are consistent with other research showing a positive association between exposure to nature and increased positive affect. This research adds to the literature by indicating that motives for seeking out nature and what individuals focus their attention on when in nature are related to the outcomes of nature visits. The authors suggest that the benefits of nature exposure may be enhanced by purposeful nature experiences and directed attention.
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