Wilderness Use and Self-Actualization

ABSTRACT

The concept of self-actualization is a complex one that is widely used in humanistic psychology. Maslow (1968) developed the concept of self-actualization to represent a positive ideal of mental health. It has been suggested that leisure experiences can contribute to the development of self-actualization in an individual. This suggestion has been made most often about outdoor recreation such as wilderness use (e.g., Scott 1974). The purpose of the present study is to provide an empirical test of the prediction that wilderness users are more self-actualized than non-users and that frequent wilderness users are more self-actualized than occasional users. Data were collected from a random sample of 503 adults in Illinois and 222 wilderness users. Wilderness use and attitudes were related to a measure of self-actualization. Wilderness users were found to be more self-actualized than non-users and potential users were more self-actualized than potential non-users. Self-actualization was also found to be positively related to wilderness attitudes. However, frequent wilderness users were no more self-actualized than occasional wilderness users. Wilderness may be used by some individuals as a self-actualizing experience. However, it was concluded that for representative groups of people the relationship between wilderness use and self-actualization is very weak.

KEYWORDS:

• Wilderness users
• self-actualization
• wilderness attitudes