Culture plays a large role in an individual's sense of identity, and it likely also pertains to an individual's environmental identity as well, although this connection has not been well researched. This paper's author attempts to address this question by exploring whether a person's engagement with the Nordic cultural tradition of friluftsiv contributes to his or her sense of environmental connectedness.
Friluftsliv loosely translates to “open-air life.” It encompasses outdoor recreation, the joy of being out in nature, and the idea of living the simple life close to nature. It is a philosophy, a lifestyle, and a tradition. In Sweden, friluftsliv has been part of the cultural identity since the late nineteenth century, when industrialization, urbanization, and other factors sparked a movement to get youth and adults into nature. It has continued to develop throughout the twentieth century, and scholars have noted that Sweden today has a strongly nature-inclusive cultural identity. For the purposes of this study, the author defined friluftsliv as “nature-based outdoor recreation participation,” since it is possible to measure quantitatively.
The author used data from a Swedish national research program, Outdoor Recreation in Change: Landscapes, Experiences, Planning and Development, to investigate the relationship between nature-based outdoor recreation (NBOR) participation and environmental connectedness (EC). Specifically, the author considered four questions:
1. Do regular NBOR participants have higher levels of EC than nonregular NBOR participants?
2. Is NBOR participation a significant predictor of EC when controlling for other factors, such as age group, sex, participation in NBOR as a child, support for universal access to nature laws, current residence, residence as a child, disposable income, and nationality?
3. Do any of the additional factors moderate the relationship between NBOR participation and EC?
4. Is there a significant relationship between frequency of participation in a particular activity type (such as walking in the forest, skateboarding, garden work) and level of EC?
The Outdoor Recreation in Change survey contained 55 questions and was sent to 4,700 people who were randomly selected from the Swedish national personal address register (which lists all Swedish citizens). A total of 1,792 responses were received, from respondents aged 18 to 75 years old. The sample consisted of 55% women and 45% men.
The item on the survey that was used to measure NBOR participation was the question, “Approximately how often are you out in nature on weekdays?” Possible responses were never, seldom, rather often, or very often. Informational items accompanying the survey reminded respondents that the survey concerned free-time activities and nature experiences. For the purposes of data analysis, the author re-coded responses never and seldom as “nonregular participation” and rather often and very often as “regular participation.” The other variables the author included as potential predictors of EC were age group, sex, participation in NBOR as a child, support for outdoor recreation access, current residence, residence as a child, disposable income, and nationality.
To measure EC, the author used three items from the survey. The items all started with the phrase, “To be in nature usually makes me feel or experience . . .” and were completed with (1) “a heightened sense about the interplay of nature that everything is connected;” (2) “a feeling that the city is dependent on the surrounding nature;” and (3) “a feeling that all people, including myself, are united and a part of nature.” The author found that the answers to these three questions were highly similar for each respondent (i.e., someone who answered yes to one question was likely to answer yes to all three, and vice versa), which allowed the author to use a composite of the answers to these three items to represent the participant's EC.
Results of research question 1 showed that respondents who reported having regular participation in NBOR had a higher level of EC. Further analysis through research question 2 provided more information about factors that contribute to EC. Analysis of the second research question showed that, in addition to NBOR participation as an adult, four factors were correlated with higher levels of EC: NBOR participation as a child, support for universal access to nature laws, being female, and being older. Current residence, residence as a child, level of schooling, disposable income, and nationality had no significant effect on EC.
Following up on research question 2, the author investigated the relative contribution of each of the five significant variables mentioned above on EC. This analysis showed that age group and NBOR participation were the most significant predictors of EC, when controlling for other factors. In fact, these results showed that a person's age may play a larger role in a person's EC than regular NBOR participation. Specifically, participants from age ranges of 31–45, 46–60, and 61–75 had much higher levels of EC than the youngest age range (18–30). In this secondary analysis, NBOR as a child, support for access, and sex were shown to possibly not have practical significance for predicting EC, since the relative contribution of these factors was very small.
Research question 3 investigated whether any of the additional factors moderate the relationship between NBOR participation and EC. Since age was shown in previous analysis to be so important, the author focused on whether NBOR participation seems to have more of an effect on EC for certain age groups. The results showed that for the youngest age group (18–30 years) there was no significant difference in EC between regular and nonregular NBOR participants. However, for the older three age groups, regular NBOR participation did have an effect on EC. These findings suggest that merely involving youth and young adults in NBOR may not be an effective way to foster EC; for them, additional supports are needed.
The final research question examined how different types of outdoor activities correlate with levels of EC. Out of the 44 different activities that were analyzed, the author discovered eight items with a statistically significant, positive correlation with EC: walking in the forest and country, pleasure and exercise-oriented walking, dog walking, walking with poles, garden work, nature picnic and grilling, plant animal study/bird watching, and meditation/yoga in nature. In addition, three activities were associated with significantly lower EC: skateboarding, outdoor pool use and waterpark swimming, and waterskiing/wake boarding. The author found that four out of the eight positively significant activities were also significantly correlated with older age groups, such as walking in the forest and country, and that all three of the activity items correlated with lower EC scores were more frequently done by the younger age group, such as skateboarding. These results suggest that simple, quiet activities in nature, such as walking, are more likely to promote EC than other activities. This analysis also provided further support for the finding that NBOR does not necessarily foster EC in younger adults.
The Bottom Line
The Swedish culture of friluftsliv, translated as nature-based outdoor recreation, helps foster environmental connectedness. However, the finding that young adults (aged 18–30) showed no correlation between regular participation in outdoor activities and environmental connectedness suggests that youth in this age group may require additional supports to foster a connection with the environment when outdoors. The types of activities undertaken in nature also make a difference in terms of fostering environmental connectedness. For example, four of the eight activities that showed a significant correlation with high environmental connectedness levels all involved walking, which allows people to take in—and connect with—the environment around them. Other activities that corresponded with higher environmental connectedness included picnicking in nature, plant/animal study and bird watching, garden work, and mediation/yoga in nature. Finally, this research suggests that cultural traditions can help to inform our understanding of EC. Yet, additional research is needed to explore how other cultural identities, such as the Native American and other indigenous cultures, may promote and support environmental connectedness.