Connectedness to Nature is More Strongly Related to Connection to Distant, Rather Than Close, Others

Abstract

Much research supports the contention that human beings have a fundamental need to belong (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). This need can be satisfied by social connections such as friends and family or by a connection to more abstract entities such as culture, country, or humanity as a whole (McFarland, Webb, & Brown, 2012). Ecopsychologists have also argued that the need to belong can be satisfied by feeling connected to nature (Baxter & Pelletier, 2018; Mayer, Frantz, Bruehlman-Senecal, & Dolliver, 2009; Passmore & Howell, 2014). Despite conceptual similarities between connectedness to nature and social connectedness (Schultz, 2002), there have been conflicting findings in the literature regarding relations between these two constructs. The aim of the present study was to help clarify the relationship between social connectedness and connectedness to nature by measuring multiple forms of both of these broad constructs.