ArticleBMC public health2021
Exploring the beliefs and perceptions of spending time in nature among U.S. youth.
Article in BMC public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Outdoor Physical Activity and Youth Mental Well-Being: A Narrative Review with Mountain Biking as an Illustrative Case.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Youth's mental health journeys through the COVID-19 pandemic using arts-based methods in virtual environments.PloS one · 2026Article
- Outdoor physical activity, mental health, life satisfaction, happiness and life stress among Canadian adolescents.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2025Article
- Discovering the allure of forests: Exploring adolescent queries in nature-rich environments.PloS one · 2025Article
- Motivating young adults to connect with nature for stress relief: A study in Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Experience of nature and times of silence as a resource to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and their effects on psychological wellbeing-Findings from a continuous cross-sectional survey in Germany.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Exploring the acceptability and feasibility of implementing VR relaxation in naturalistic settings.International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHPArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe prevalence of poor mental health continues to rise among youth; however, large-scale interventions to improve mental and physical health remain a public health challenge. Time spent in nature is associated with improved health among youth. This study aimed to assess youth experiences with nature and the self-perceived impact on their mental and physical health among a nationwide sample of US youth.
methodsIn September 2020, five open-ended questions that aimed to assess perceptions regarding nature were posed to 1174 MyVoice youth, aged 14-24 years. Qualitative responses were analyzed using thematic analysis, and data were summarized using descriptive statistics.
resultsThe mean (SD) age of the 994 respondents (RR = 84.7%) was 18.9 (2.7) years; 47.4% were female, and 57.4% Non-Hispanic White. Among youth, many felt that spending time in nature positively impacted their mental health, with 51.6% mentioning that it made them "feel calm when I am out in nature"; 22.1% said that it relieved stress or "reduces my anxiety," and 17.1% felt that being in nature positively impacted their physical health and "makes me feel more active and in shape." However, 7.0% said it negatively impacted their health, such as "It makes me feel isolated." Most youth (87.8%) want to spend more time in nature, with 22% mentioning barriers (i.e., busy schedules, built environment, and COVID-19) impeding them from doing so.
conclusionsYouth in our sample generally report feeling physically and mentally better when spending time in nature and want to spend more time in nature. Public health policies and practices that eliminate barriers and actively support time spent outside may be a feasible and acceptable practice to promote overall well-being among youth.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.