Nature connection and wellbeing in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Nature connection (also referred to as nature connectedness, connectedness to nature connection to nature, or nature relatedness) describes a positive relationship between humans and the natural world, with various benefits for both nature and humans. The latter include a small but robust positive correlation of nature connection with various types of wellbeing and flourishing. However, this correlation has been investigated meta-analytically in adults only; no meta-analysis to-date has investigated the relationship between nature connection and wellbeing in children and adolescents. This is the aim of the present study. We undertook searches through four databases (Google Scholar, ERIC, PsycInfo and Scopus). The criteria were (i) the mean age of participants is below 18, with no restrictions on sex or ethnicity and that they were drawn from the general population; (ii) that there were at least one explicit, non-dichotomised measure for nature connection and one for wellbeing and (iii) that there were adequate data reported so that we could record or compute the correlation coefficient between the main variables. Our systematic review identified twelve studies (k = 12) that fulfilled the criteria and could be included in the meta-analysis. The total sample (n = 30,075) included children and adolescents aged four to 18. An overall moderate significant effect was found (r = .31, 95% CI = .22-.41) for the relationship between nature connection and wellbeing in children and adolescents, which is comparable but slightly higher than the effect found in previous meta-analyses focused on adults.