The relationship between children's perceptions of the natural environment and their subjective well-being

Abstract

The overarching aim of the study was to ascertain the relationship between children's perceptions of the natural environment and their subjective well-being. More specifically the study aimed to fit a structural model depicting the nature of the relationship between children's environmental views and their global, and domain-specific life satisfaction. The sample included 1004 twelve-year-old participants randomly selected from 15 primary schools in Cape Town, South Africa. The measuring instrument included the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale for children, the Students' Life Satisfaction Scale and the Personal Well-Being Index-School Children. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the validity of the NEP Scale which showed appropriate fit structure. A good fit structure was also found for the overall structural equation model. However, the overall model showed that children's environmental views were not related to their global life and domain-specific life satisfaction. At a foundational level, more research is required to allow for a better understanding of how children in differing circumstances construct and assign meaning to nature, and what their perceptions of nature are before we can begin to ask them when, how or why they engage in nature.

Keywords:

• children's environmental perceptions
• children's subjective well-being
• New Ecological Paradigm Scale
• Students' Life Satisfaction Scale
• Personal Well-Being Index

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the executive editor and anonymous reviewers of Children's Geographies for their valuable feedback which substantially improved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would hereby like to express their gratitude to the National Research Foundation of South Africa and the Children's Worlds Project (Jacobs Foundation) for financial and institutional support [grant number: 84779].