The role of campus greenspace and meditation on college students’ mood disturbance

Abstract

Objective To determine whether students who engage in a sedentary task in an urban park-like setting experience improved mood and whether this effect is moderated by mindfulness meditation. Participants: 234 (133 females) undergraduate students, who either engaged in outdoor recreation frequently or infrequently. Methods: Participants engaged in 20 minutes of mindfulness meditation or a control task, either in a campus park-like setting or in a quiet room indoors. Before and after the activity, total mood disturbance (TMD) was assessed with the Profile of Mood States Questionnaire. Results: Being outside or meditating reduced TMD for those who frequently recreated outside. Those who infrequently recreated outside experienced decreased TMD if they meditated inside and increased TMD if they did not. When outside, TMD decreased regardless of activity. Conclusions: Spending time outside and practicing meditation may be effective approaches for improving college students’ mental health, particularly for students who infrequently go outside.

Keywords:

• Ecotherapy
• mental health
• mindfulness
• mood
• undergraduate students

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Center for Geospatial Analysis, The Roy R. Charles Center for Academic Excellence, and the Environmental Science and Policy Program at William & Mary. The authors would like to thank Dr. Elizabeth Raposa, Carolyn Schuyler, LCSW of Wildrock Nature Play Center who wrote the meditation script, and Lindsay Heck who recorded the meditation. A special thanks to undergraduates who contributed substantially to the project: Emily Gardner, Annabel McSpadden, and Tommy Schefer.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Protection of Human Subjects Committee at William & Mary.