How contact with nature during childhood is associated with pro-environmental behaviours later in life
Getting the kids away from screens and out into the great outdoors is undoubtedly good for their health; but ultimately it could also be good for the planet’s health, suggests an international study.
The 2020 study focused on ‘blue space exposure’: time spent close to rivers, lakes and coastlines. While ‘green space’ (woodlands, bush and parks) often overlaps with blue space, according to the researchers blue spaces ‘have unique sensory qualities (e.g., light reflections, wave motion, sounds), and offer opportunities for swimming, fishing, and water-sports. The scientists wanted to establish whether childhood exposure to nature (and particularly blue space) encourages pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) among people as and when they grow up.
To test this theory, researchers surveyed a cohort of adults in Austria, asking them about childhood recollections of being around blue spaces. They then asked the cohort questions about recent time spent in nature. Because Austria is a landlocked country, it was hoped the study could show the importance of inland blue spaces as opposed to the more frequently studied coastal ones.
The results showed evidence ‘for a positive relationship between (recalled) childhood blue space exposure and adult PEBs’ and a correlation between a sense of ongoing connectedness with nature that may have started in childhood.
So each time the young people in your life get outside and into nature, they are not only investing in their own physical and mental health, but also prepping themselves to continue a lifelong pro-environmental relationship with nature.
[1] Stehl, P., White, M. P., Vitale, V., Pahl, S., Elliot, L.R., Fian, L., van den Bosch, M. 2024. ‘From childhood blue space exposure to adult environmentalism: The role of nature connectedness and nature contact’. Journal of Environmental Psychology 93.
