Nature experiences are often drawn upon to recount times of eudaimonic well-being (#123)
How often do people draw on nature experiences when they reflect on times in their life of eudaimonic well-being? Toward addressing this question, we analyzed a segment of two data sets that were part of our research group’s two exploratory factor analyses (EFAs). These EFAs were conducted in the process of developing a scale to measure a construct we are calling Presence, a form of eudaimonic well-being. The results from our confirmatory study are currently being analyzed. The first of our EFAs comprised a sample of college students (N = 599); and our second EFA comprised a US nationally representative sample (N = 384). In both EFAs, participants were prompted to recount a fairly recent experience they have had which resonated with any or all of six provided statements that suggest eudaimonic well-being: (a) you felt receptive and alive to the here-and-now; (b) you weren’t thinking about the past or worrying about the future; (c) your mind felt peaceful even while highly aware of what was going on; (d) you experienced a sense of freedom; (e) a part of your mind was aware of you in the experience, and not judging any of it; and (f) you felt a connection to – or even part of – a larger existence. Results showed that almost half of the participants recounted a nature experience: 47.6% (college sample) and 48.8% (US national sample). There are some estimates that people in the US spend about 90% of their time indoors; and when outside, they are often in urban non-natural settings. Thus, our results suggest that nature may play an especially important role in promoting experiences of eudaimonic well-being. Taken more broadly, these results provide a data point for yet another line of reasoning for nature conservation, and people’s access to and interaction with nature.
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