How Connected Are You to Nature?
Whether the natural world is part of who you are, how you think, and how you spend your time
Some people feel restless after two days without seeing a tree. Others are perfectly content with a city, a sofa and a window. Psychologists who study this found that the connection to nature is not one feeling but three: whether nature is part of your identity, whether it shapes how you think about human choices, and whether you actually go out and spend time in it. They do not always move together - plenty of committed environmentalists rarely leave the city, and plenty of hikers think little about the planet.
Before you start There are no right answers. Pick what is usually true for you, not what sounds best.
Answer about your usual life, not about your best holiday. Living in a city does not count against you - the questions are about how you relate to nature, not how much of it is outside your door.
What it measures
The three parts of the Nature Relatedness Scale: self, how much you identify with the natural world; perspective, how far your view of the world takes nature and human impact into account; and experience, how drawn you are to being out in nature and how familiar it is to you.
Based on: Nature Relatedness Scale (Nisbet, Zelenski & Murphy, 2009)
Possible results
Nature as part of you
How much you identify with the natural world and feel part of it.
Nature perspective
How far your view of the world takes nature and human impact into account.
Nature experience
How drawn you are to being outdoors and how at ease you feel there.
Common questions
Does being connected to nature make you happier?
A little, on average. A 2014 meta-analysis of 30 samples found a small but consistent link, strongest for vitality and positive mood and weaker for life satisfaction. The link is correlational, so it does not prove that nature causes the effect, but experiments with short walks in green spaces point in the same direction.
Can I feel connected to nature if I live in a city?
Yes. Nature relatedness is about how you relate to the natural world, not how much of it is nearby, and plenty of city dwellers score high. Parks, rivers, street trees, a balcony garden or a pet all count. The experience bar may be lower for practical reasons, and that is worth reading as a question of access rather than of character.
Is nature connection the same as being an environmentalist?
They are related but not the same. The original studies found that nature relatedness predicted environmental concern and behaviour, but the connection is a personal relationship with the natural world, while environmentalism is a set of political and practical commitments. You can love being outdoors without campaigning, and campaign hard while rarely leaving the city.
Sources
- Nisbet, E. K., Zelenski, J. M., & Murphy, S. A. (2009). The Nature Relatedness Scale: Linking individuals' connection with nature to environmental concern and behavior. Environment and Behavior. doi:10.1177/0013916508318748
- Nisbet, E. K., & Zelenski, J. M. (2013). The NR-6: a new brief measure of nature relatedness. Frontiers in Psychology. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00813
- Capaldi, C. A., Dopko, R. L., & Zelenski, J. M. (2014). The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00976
An honest note The items are Quinthea's own wording, adapted from the Nature Relatedness Scale, so scores are not comparable to the published norms. The research behind it relies mostly on students and adults from Canada and a few other Western countries, and the three parts overlap a good deal - a short version later kept only two of them. The link with happiness is real but small, and correlational: feeling well may send people outdoors as much as the reverse.