Connectedness to nature : comparing rural and urban youths’ relationships with nature

Abstract

Only a few decades ago, people spent considerably more time engaged in outdoor activities, fostering connections with the natural environment. Currently, many people regard themselves as separate from the natural world instead of maintaining a connection to the earth. Today‘s youth face a plethora of factors that discourage them from developing significant relationships with nature. This study was designed to determine which factors had significant impacts upon rural (n=50) and urban youths‘ (n=42) connectedness to nature. During this mixed methods research, respondents participated through an online survey that included 'Connectedness to Nature Scale' statements. Ten semi-structured interviews further explored youths' connectedness to nature. A comparison of the rural and urban findings suggests that rural youths have more opportunities to connect and develop more significant relationships with nature whereas urban youths may be slightly less connected to nature overall but have similar concerns for the environment.