Happiness from Nature? Adolescents’ Conceptions of the Relation between Happiness and Nature in Finland

Abstract

Contact with nature has been increasingly recognized as enhancing human well-being and health. Less is known about how people perceive and define the effects of nature in their everyday lives. This study examines conceptions of the relation between nature and happiness offered by 15- to 16-year-olds in Finland, which has been reported to be “the happiest country in the world.” The data consist of thematic writings (N = 184). The results show that most of the participants agreed that nature makes them happy or associated only positive characteristics with nature. One fourth of the participants had an ambivalent stance on the topic, while a small minority did not see any connection between happiness and nature. Happiness was connected to opportunities that nature offered for physical activity, and emotional and cognitive renewal. To prevent polarization in relation to nature, special efforts should be made to support outdoor recreation for adolescents.

Keywords:

• Adolescents
• happiness
• nature
• outdoor recreation
• well-being

Introduction

Contact with nature has been shown to promote well-being and health in adults, children, and adolescents (e.g., Roberts et al., 2020; Tillmann et al., 2018; Twohig-Bennett & Jones, 2018). While opportunities to connect with nature in everyday life have decreased in urbanized societies, natural settings have become increasingly commodified and marketized spaces for nature-based tourism (e.g., Chen & Prebensen, 2017). A decline in the level of young people’s outdoor experiences and everyday connection with nature have been reported in recent studies (e.g., Soga & Gaston, 2016). In particular, Kaplan and Kaplan (2002) have described the adolescent years, a period of transition, as a “time out” in people’s preference for the natural world. According to their review (ibid.), adolescents prefer places where they can be with their peers, and activities that include excitement and action. However, the interest and preference for nature normally return when adolescents become young adults (Kaplan & Kaplan, 2002; see Lovelock et al., 2016; Richardson et al., 2019). Taye et al. (2019) and Ward Thompson et al. (2008) have also shown that people who participated in outdoor leisure activities as a child tend to engage in these activities as an adult.

In Finland, nature and outdoor activities have traditionally played a central role in the national identity (e.g., Periäinen, 2006). When compared internationally, Finnish children still enjoy a high degree of independent mobility (Kyttä et al., 2015). Nevertheless, there are signs of polarization in relation to nature among adolescents (Puhakka, 2014). The daily participation rate in outdoor recreation activities was shown to be the lowest among 15- to 24-year-old Finns (Vaara & Matero, 2011). According to the National Outdoor Recreation Demand Inventory (Sievänen & Neuvonen, 2011), 15- to 24-year-old Finns’ participation in outdoor recreation decreased between 2000 and 2010, and the number of visits to close-to-home recreation areas was the lowest among young men. However, in comparison to other age groups, young Finns favored activities that demand physical skills and/or special equipment. Over time, Sievänen and Neuvonen (2011) found that participation in some traditional activities, such as pickingberries and mushrooms, increased among the original cohort as they aged.

One strand of research addressing the well-being effects of nature has focused on the connection between nature and different modes of happiness (e.g., Pritchard et al., 2020). Accordingly, happiness is defined for instance as life satisfaction and the presence of positive emotions (e.g., Capaldi et al., 2014; Diener, 1984). However, researchers have emphasized the need to study people’s own experiences and definitions of happiness (e.g., Levisen, 2014). For instance, Scollon and King (2011, p. 13) argue that analyzing lay conceptions of happiness informs us about the sources and restrictions that people attach to ideas of happiness in their everyday life, and how people follow or avoid certain practices in their lives. Birch et al. (2020) have identified a lack of young people’s voices articulating if and how urban nature supports their well-being or enhances their happiness. For example, Chaplin (2009) has shown that material things, activities, and achievements characterize children’s and adolescents’ happiness. However, there is a lack of research addressing the role of the environment, or more specifically nature, to adolescents’ experiences of happiness.

While acknowledging the importance of living environments for adolescents’ health and well-being (Wiens et al., 2016; Woodgate & Skarlato, 2015), in this study we aim to bridge the gap in the existing research and provide insights into Finnish adolescents’ conceptions and explanations of the relation between nature and happiness. Finland provides a suitable cultural context for analyzing the happiness/nature connection because in 2018 and 2019 the Sustainable Development Solutions Network ranked Finland as “the happiest country in the world” (Helliwell et al., 2019, p. 32). More specifically, we ask: Does nature make adolescents happy? How does nature affect well-being, and which characteristics in nature affect well-being according to adolescents? Onwuegbuzie and Leech (2005) have emphasized the benefits of using a mixed-method approach to better understand both the macro and micro levels of a research issue (see Leech & Onwuegbuzie, 2007). As suggested, we employ analysis triangulation by combining a quantitative and qualitative content analysis with a thematic analysis to study thematic writings (N = 184) produced by 15- to 16-year-old respondents from the city of Lahti, in Finland. Next, we present the review of the previous nature and well-being research and then we will move on to describe premises of the present study.

Literature review

Nature and well-being

In a broad sense, the concept of well-being comprises two main elements: feeling good and functioning well (Muirhead, 2011; see Dinnie et al., 2013). Interacting with nature promotes psychological, physiological, and social well-being and health in adults, children and adolescents (Keniger et al., 2013; Roberts et al., 2020; Tillmann et al., 2018).

Based on previous research, interacting with nature boosts people’s self-esteem and their mood (Kuo & Sullivan, 2001), reduces feelings of anger (Moore et al., 2007), and improves the general psychological well-being with positive impacts on emotions and behavior (Kaplan, 2001). For instance, taking exercise in nature is more beneficial and better at relieving anxiety and depression than exercise taken in urban settings (Barton & Pretty, 2010; Hartig et al., 1991). In terms of cognitive benefits, several researchers have found green spaces to be restorative as they contribute to attentional recovery and reduce mental fatigue (Hartig et al., 1991; Kaplan, 1995, 2001; Tyrväinen et al., 2014). Exposure to both urban nature and wilderness settings has positive effects on academic performance and the ability to concentrate and perform mentally challenging tasks (Greenwood & Gatersleben, 2016; Kuo & Faber Taylor, 2004; van den Berg et al., 2003). Furthermore, for instance Rosa et al. (2018) have suggested that childhood nature experiences have a long-lasting effect on pro-environmental behavior in adulthood.

In several studies of adults’ and children’s physiological well-being researchers found that time spent in natural settings relieves the negative physiological effects of various stressors in urban areas (Tyrväinen et al., 2014; van den Berg et al., 2003; Wells & Evans, 2003). Indirect physiological health benefits are derived when nature promotes physical activity. Exposure to greenness has been associated with lower probabilities of many health problems (Twohig-Bennett & Jones, 2018) and benefits for functioning of the immune system (Aerts et al., 2018).

Furthermore, natural environments and shared nature experiences have a beneficial effect on health by providing opportunities for social interaction and strengthening bonds within families and friends (Dinnie et al., 2013; Greenwood & Gatersleben, 2016). Nature also fosters personal and community identity formation, social activity, and social participation (Keniger et al., 2013; Kuo & Sullivan, 2001).

Despite the benefits of being in contact with nature, researchers have also found natural settings to be uncomfortable, distressing or threatening for some people (Milligan & Bingley, 2007; Woodgate & Skarlato, 2015). Health risks or disbenefits may, for instance, be related to animals such as venomous snakes, bees or wasps that could cause allergic reactions, or ticks that transmit Lyme disease.

Nature and happiness

There is no unambiguous definition of happiness in the research literature. For instance, Peterson et al. (2005) have listed three main orientations—pleasure, meaning and engagement—to characterize the different ways of experiencing happiness. Perhaps the most often-cited definition sees happiness as being almost parallel with well-being (Diener, 1984). Diener (1984) has suggested that subjective well-being consists of general life satisfaction, the presence of positive emotions, and the absence of negative emotions (see Diener, 2009).

From the perspective of subjective well-being, the relation between nature and happiness has been addressed in several studies. In their meta-analysis, Capaldi et al. (2014) concluded that happiness appears to be associated with a strong personal connection with nature. This connection was strongest when individuals saw nature as integral to themselves, rather than as separate from or external to the self (see Pritchard et al., 2020). The different impacts of natural and urban environments on experiences of happiness have also been explored. For instance, MacKerron and Mourato (2013) found that participants reported momentary subjective well-being more often in green or natural environments than in urban settings. Zhang et al. (2017) addressed the other side of subjective well-being, unhappiness, and reported that contamination, such as air pollution decreased the sense of subjective well-being and happiness. However, similar to the context of the possible negative effects of nature on well-being (Milligan & Bingley, 2007; Woodgate & Skarlato, 2015), Capaldi et al. (2014) point out that the effect of nature on happiness may vary from person to person.

Previous research addressing the relation between nature and happiness has mainly indicated that natural environments have a positive effect on happiness (operationalized as subjective well-being) (e.g., Capaldi et al., 2014; MacKerron & Mourato, 2013). However, most of this work has been quantitative. People’s personal experiences and definitions of happiness, as well as unhappiness, have played a marginal role in the research to date (see Capaldi et al., 2014). Even though processes related to happiness may have widely shared characteristics, several researchers have noted that happiness should not only be approached as a universal phenomenon, but its cultural meanings should also be taken into account (e.g., Carlquist et al., 2017; Levisen, 2014). Exploring adolescents’ “bottom-up” conceptions for happiness and nature allows us to elaborate on the accuracy of the above-mentioned researcher-given “top-down” definitions of happiness, as well as the adolescents’ (positive or negative) experiences in nature.

Methods

The research material consists of thematic writings produced by 15- to 16-year-olds living in the city of Lahti in southern Finland surrounded by water and green areas. Lahti represents a typical, mid-sized Finnish city of 120,000 citizens, 93% of whom are native Finns, and 7% have an immigrant background. The context thus provides a fruitful opportunity to analyze adolescents’ conceptions of nature as the city of Lahti can be considered to represent an environment in which a majority of Finnish adolescents currently live. The material was collected as a part of the LUODE project (Nature and the arts as a learning environment) in which the present study is a sub-study which sheds light on the role of nature in adolescents’ lives. The material was collected in nine classes in five upper comprehensive schools (out of nine in Lahti) in 2019. These five schools represent typical Finnish comprehensive schools maintained by the local authorities and located in different parts of the city. In total, 193 ninth-grade students participated in the study, with almost an equal number of females (n = 81) and males (n = 93; other n = 4; no information n = 15).

The Finnish tourism promotion agency Visit Finland’s short video (41 seconds), depicting different features of Finnish nature and highlighting nature as the source of Finns’ happiness, was used as elicitation material in the data gathering. According to Harper (2002), the benefits of using visual elicitation include evoking feelings and memories and, as a result, producing rich qualitative material for analysis. In the present study, the aims the elicitation were to facilitate a writing task, to connect the task to the topic—Finnish happiness—and to encourage the adolescents to reflect on their own conceptions of happiness in relation to the video. In the response paper, the participants were given background information concerning Finland’s classification as the happiest country and the role of the video in the “Rent a Finn” campaign, which aimed to recruit ordinary Finns as “happiness guides” for international travelers. The participants were presented with the following questions to consider: “What does the video reveal about happiness in your opinion? Discuss whether nature makes you happy. Why? Why not?” The questions were formulated to encourage the participants to reflect on the relation between happiness and nature from different perspectives and to allow them to present different opinions on the topic.

The thematic writings were collected as a part of ordinary daily school practice. The aims and means of the research were described in detail in the research permit application. The general permit was first obtained from the city of Lahti to collect the material in the schools; secondly permission was obtained separately from each school by the administrator of the LUODE project. In the research situation, the first author explained the aims of the research to the participants emphasizing that participating in the research is voluntary and that the participants could return a blank paper if they wished not to participate. The collected material was anonymous; the participants were only asked to state their age and gender. The research assistant transcribed the handwritten answers into an electronic form for analysis.

Based on the principles of a pragmatic mixed methods approach (Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2005) and analysis triangulation (Leech & Onwuegbuzie, 2007), we applied a quantitative and qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis to examine the material. Triangulation benefits the analysis by systematizing the classification of the material and allowing a comparison between the identified content (content analysis), without losing the qualitative interpretation of individual writings (thematic analysis). The mixed methods analysis of the thematic writings enabled an explorative and inductive approach in the analysis of the adolescents’ own experiences and definitions of happiness related to nature (for a similar research setting, see Korpela, 1992; Pointon, 2014). According to Guest et al. (2012, pp. 6–7), an exploratory thematic analysis is characterized by the use of a purposive sample (in the present study adolescents in Lahti) and the content-driven approach (analytic categories are not predetermined but derived from the material).

In the present study, the length of the writings varied from a few sentences to half a page. The quality of the writings was not directly related to the length of each piece; the data showed that the adolescents considered the presented questions carefully and were able to describe meaningful nature experiences and take a stance on the addressed topic even when writing briefly.

In practice, we familiarized ourselves with the material by going through all 193 responses and adding free categories describing the way they conveyed about the relation between nature and happiness. Nine very short writings (e.g., “Finland is a happy country.”) did not take any identifiable stance on nature-based happiness and hence were not analyzed further.

We analyzed the writings thematically following the principles of explorative thematic analysis (Guest et al., 2012). Guided by the research questions, we started to identify the characteristics mentioned in the responses as either creating or preventing happiness. We also identified aspects of the writings that indicated the effects of nature on well-being, outdoor activities, and natural environments and elements that were connected to happiness. We assigned one or more codes to each adolescent’s written contribution. We analyzed the material individually at first, after which we discussed the interpretations and refined the coding scheme. In practice, we merged synonymous codes together to form broader themes. The final coding was based on a mutual understanding between both researchers.

Findings

The analysis of the thematic writings showed that the adolescents took different stances when evaluating the relation between happiness and nature. They described a variety of different activities and experiences in nature as well as explanations of nature’s effect on happiness. In the thematic analysis we recognized distinctive shared ways to approach the topic. Next, we first present the different stances the adolescents took on the nature–happiness relationship. Secondly, we present three general content areas: activities in nature, elements that enable happiness in nature, and explanations for happiness in nature. Excerpts from the thematic writings are given to illustrate the general ways in which the adolescents elaborated on their experiences.

Does nature make adolescents happy?

The questions invited the participants to consider the relation between happiness and nature on a general level as well as in terms of their personal lives. The clearest element distinguishing and connecting the different written answers was the participants’ stance toward the video’s claim that Finns find their happiness from nature. We identified three different ways in which the adolescents addressed the relation between nature and happiness.

The majority of the participants (67%) explicitly stated that nature makes people happy or connected only positive characteristics with nature. The following excerpt demonstrates how this positive group justified their perspective:

There are many kinds of happiness, and for Finns it’s nature, or at least a part of it. We Finns have learned to enjoy nature and use it for recreation purposes. The freshness of nature relaxes people. Nature makes me happy as it brings back childhood memories and feelings of joy and freshness. In nature, clean air and certain forest and nature smells make happy and relieve stress, for instance. (P152)

The participant claims that there is not only one form of happiness, but for Finnish people nature plays a special role. The participant speaks about “we Finns” and describes general elements and effects, as well as personal emotions and multisensory experiences that he connects to nature. The mention of childhood memories illustrates how long-term the positive effects of nature experiences may be.

We categorized one fourth (26%) of the participants as ambivalent as they mentioned both positive and negative aspects related to nature or expressed uncertainty of some sort about the connection between happiness and nature. The following excerpt demonstrates this stance on nature and happiness:

In my opinion, Finns’ happiness is also dependent on nature, but I think the biggest reasons are the “good circumstances” in the whole country. On the other hand, it’s certainly nice and relaxing to go to nature in Finland, for instance to walk. Nature doesn’t make me happy, but it refreshes me anyway. (P212)

The participant speaks about the happiness of Finns and agrees that it is connected to nature. However, she also warrants that other issues may have a bigger role in generating happiness. Though she names certain outdoor activities and their positive effects and sees a connection between Finns and nature, she claims that she does not perceive nature-based happiness herself.

A minority (7%) of the participants considered that there was no connection between happiness and nature or associated only negative aspects with nature. Accordingly, they did not describe outdoor activities, favorite natural environments or elements, or the effects of being in nature. The following excerpt demonstrates the negative stance on the idea that happiness derives from nature:

Nature and happiness are not the same thing! I myself don’t believe that nature makes people happy. People generalize about nature and the Finns. It’s a stereotype that “Finns like nature.” I myself hate nature. I don’t have good experiences of nature. It’s distressing in nature. I don’t go to nature! Finland isn’t the happiest nation in the world. (P18)

The participant seems to react to the video very strongly, and he emphasizes that happiness and nature cannot be equated. He also denies that he personally derives happiness from nature as well as the claim that Finland is the happiest nation. In contrast to the previous excerpts, this participant describes nature as causing negative emotions.

According to the thematic analysis, the participants named several similar activities and elements to explain the relationship between nature and happiness. Next, we describe and analyze the specific themes that the participants named as being relevant to nature-based experiences of happiness. These themes were prevalent throughout the writings, and the excerpts provide demonstrative examples of the research material.

Activities in nature

Altogether, the participants mentioned twenty different outdoor activities related to happiness in the thematic writings. They mentioned most frequently walking, other forms of exercise, spending time in nature, jogging, and hiking/camping (Table 1). These are mainly general activities that do not necessarily require any special equipment, skills, or knowledge. Only a few participants mentioned more specialized activities such as fishing, biking, boating, and rowing. In general, those who adopted a positive stance toward nature-based happiness mentioned more outdoor activities on average than other participants.

Table 1. Frequencies of outdoor activities mentioned in the writings.

Outdoor activity	Frequency
Walking	19
Other exercise, not specified	12
Spending time in nature	12
Jogging	11
Hiking/camping	10
Spending time at a second home	8
Fishing	5
Walking the dog	5
Biking	4
Berry or mushroom picking	4
Boating, rowing	4

Only some participants defined the natural environment in which the specific activity takes place, with the forest and summer cottage being mentioned the most often. Based on the named activities, the adolescents seemed to mainly take part in outdoor recreation activities in natural environments nearby and at summer cottages and less often in more remote national parks or wilderness areas. Hence, outdoor activities that generated happiness were more likely to be associated with everyday life at (a first or second) home than on holiday trips to more distant places. In the next excerpt, the participant discusses several outdoor activities that he perceives as promoting happiness and well-being in general:

Nature makes a lot of people feel peaceful, and happy as a result. Walking in nature is a good time to think. You can also participate in different activities such as fishing, picking mushrooms, or dog walking. You can escape the noise of the city in nature and get time for yourself. Moreover, going to the cottage develops your social life as you can spend a week with your friends, for instance. Also, fishing is a good hobby, for example, as you can concentrate on just one thing. (P77)

In the excerpt, the participant describes the effects of outdoor activities. The participant states that escaping the noisy city and engaging in various outdoor activities allows people to calm down and focus on certain issues; this instills a feeling of peace, which the writer sees as a factor in happiness. On the one hand, the participant emphasizes retreating and being alone; while on the other hand, he mentions positive effects of social activities in nature.

In general, in the material less than one-tenth of the participants explicitly mentioned being alone or with others in nature as sources of happiness. Interestingly, all participants who mentioned being alone in nature represented the group who had a positive stance toward nature-based happiness.

Elements that enable or prevent happiness in nature

In general, participants associated positive adjectives with nature, describing it most often as peaceful (or in terms of peace/tranquility) and in relation to words such as quiet or silent (Table 2). They also described nature that creates happiness, for instance, as clean or pure (unpolluted), beautiful, nice, or good, and fresh.

Table 2. Frequencies of adjectives used to describe nature in the writings.

Adjective	Frequency
Peaceful (or peace/tranquility)	44
Clean, pure (unpolluted)	28
Beautiful	27
Nice, good	26
Quiet, silent, noiseless	14
Fresh	12
Green, verdant, colorful	5
Warm	5
Great	4

In the context of cleanliness and purity in particular, the writings touched on the question of environmental threats and the fact that nature that produces happiness is not a matter of course but requires environmental protection. The aspect of environmental protection was particularly important for those adolescents who took a positive stance toward nature-based happiness; almost a third of them paid attention to cleanliness and purity, or they emphasized that nature should be protected from degradation. Many participants considered that Finland still has a clean environment.

Many adolescents also seemed to share the idea of a happiness-creating environment: the forest was the most frequently mentioned natural environment, while cottage settings and lakes, shores, or waters in general were also mentioned in the writings (Table 3). When writing about summer cottages, the participants described lakes and water-based activities such as swimming and rowing in particular. In addition to the above-mentioned natural environments, the participants connected only a few specific natural settings to happiness.

Table 3. Frequencies of natural environments and elements mentioned in the writings.

Natural environment or element	Frequency
Forest	28
Sound of nature (incl. silence)	23
Clean air, freshness, cleanliness	20
Flora, greenery, other colors of nature	16
Landscape	11
Cottage environment	10
Lakes, shores, waters in general	9
Sun, sunshine	8
Animals	5

Furthermore, the general trend in the writings was that the adolescents contrasted experiences of happiness in nature with the busy, noisy everyday life in the city, as demonstrated by the following excerpt:

If the pollution and noise of the city don’t excite you, you can go to nature. Nature is beautiful and safe. You can exercise and hike there. Nature offers people a lot, and that’s why humans should also take care of it. You don’t necessarily always need modern equipment and devices to be happy. (P248)

In the excerpt, the participant describes nature as providing a contrast to the urban environment and enabling an escape from it. She notices the aspect of environmental protection and emphasizes that certain features of nature (perhaps as opposed to the urban environment) generate happiness without a need for material things.

More often than describing a specific natural setting, the participants described the multisensory experiences that they associated with nature and happiness. Birdsong and other sounds of nature (including silence) were a typical auditory element that they mentioned in the writings, while clean air or freshness, and flora, greenery or other colors of nature stimulated other senses such as sight and smell (Table 3). Participants with either a positive or ambivalent stance on happiness in nature mentioned rather similar natural environments and elements. However, the cottage environment was mentioned only by those who had a positive stance. The following excerpt demonstrates how the participants described positive emotions in relation to multisensory experiences in nature:

Finns become happy when they reach the peace of nature. Nature also makes me happy when you can go to a peaceful place and focus on your own thoughts. The gurgle of a stream, birdsong, and leaves rustling in the wind calm you down in everyday life. Fresh air also revitalizes you. (P188)

In this excerpt the participant describes mostly auditory elements which, in her view, are related to being at peace and retreating from everyday life. According to this participant, it is precisely the peace of nature that generates Finns’ happiness, including the participant herself.

Participants tended to describe their experiences of nature during the summer months. This was possibly because the video clip used as a prompt only contained summer scenes. Another explanation is that outdoor activities, such as spending time at the cottage or hiking/camping, are more typical in the relatively warm summer holiday season, and hence it is easy to make the association with nature in this context. Those who had an ambivalent stance toward nature-based happiness tended to describe the circumstances in which nature generates happiness more carefully (e.g., describing the esthetics of flora and greenery, sunshine, or heat). Few participants mentioned winter explicitly in either a positive or a neutral way. Meanwhile, the negative elements mentioned in the writings were related to autumn or winter: coldness, snow, darkness, slush, slipperiness, and bad weather. When it came to the negative aspects of nature, only bugs such as ticks or mosquitoes, and heat were explicitly related to the summertime. However, less than a tenth of the participants named any concrete negative aspect of nature. The perception of nature in different seasons is illustrated in the following excerpt:

In summer I like to go walking in the forest or otherwise be outside and enjoy the warmth. But I wouldn’t say that it (nature) makes me happy. Trees, grass, and sunshine do, but there are many small things that I don’t like and can’t do anything about. Bugs, insects, and coldness probably annoy me the most. If it were warmer and there weren’t any bugs, I would be satisfied. But now we’re only talking about summer. What about winter? Then I don’t like nature at all! It’s cold, snow is stupid and it’s slippery. The trees look dead without leaves, and nothing is fine in winter! (P28)

In the excerpt above, the participant makes a clear distinction between different seasons: she admits that nature can enhance happiness during the warm summer, but she dislikes the snow and the cold, and strongly rejects the idea that nature could make her happy in winter. Hence, the participant very carefully defines the material factors that enhance or do not enhance her happiness in nature.

Explanations for happiness in nature

As the concept of happiness was not defined in the elicitation video or by the researchers, the questions presented to the participants invited them to describe the elements and factors that they perceived as being connected to happiness in the context of nature. By giving these explanations for happiness, the participants also defined the concept of happiness they associated with nature.

Regarding explanations for feelings of happiness in nature, relaxation and recovery were psychological states that the participants mentioned the most often in the writings (Table 4). Relatedly, retreating, being alone or at peace, and breaking away from everyday life were frequently mentioned, especially by those who had a positive stance on nature-based happiness. The sensory experiences described in the previous section also played a central role, as did esthetic experiences such as seeing beautiful landscapes, and the cleanliness of nature.

Table 4. Frequencies of explanations for happiness in the writings.

Explanation for happiness	Frequency
Relaxation and recovery	75
Retreating, being alone or at peace, breaking away from everyday life	68
Physical exercise	58
Sensory experiences	46
Esthetic experiences	37
Sedentary activities	25
Cleanliness of nature	21
Flora and fauna	12
Social interaction (with friends or family)	8

Even though the participants often mentioned physical exercise such as jogging and walking in nature, these activities did not play a central role in the explanations given for happiness in nature. The participants mentioned sedentary activities, such lying on the grass or sitting around a bonfire, almost half as often as physically active leisure-time pursuits.

Diverse explanations for happiness in nature are exemplified in the following excerpt:

Nature makes me happy. It makes you feel safe, and you get a peaceful, well-balanced feeling. When the air and nature are fresh and clean, the view might be so beautiful, and you might have good experiences that you can recall later. You may get positive energy even for days when you feel bad-tempered.:) (P246)

In the excerpt, the participant connects not only relaxation and recovery but also esthetic and other sensory experiences and memories to happiness in nature. She sees feelings of peace and safe as factors contributing to happiness. According to her, the positive impacts of nature were not momentary but may have a longer-term effect and help to cope with negative emotions.

The participants also described in more detail how nature affected their subjective well-being. Most importantly, the participants considered nature to calm them down and sustain peace of mind, improve their moods, and boost positive emotions, relieve stress, and increase relaxation (Table 5). The adolescents connected these aspects to experiences of nature as a place for retreat and recovery.

Table 5. Frequencies of the well-being effects of nature illustrated in the writings.

Effect of nature	Frequency
Calms one down, sustains peace of mind	36
Improves mood, increases positive emotions	18
Relieves stress	10
Increases relaxation	9
Helps one forget worries or negative feelings	6
Provides shelter or a safe feeling	4
Provides a fresh or clean feeling	4

As demonstrated by the following excerpt, some participants highlighted that it is possible to be oneself in nature, liberated from the social norms and requirements of everyday life, and hence possible to feel happiness:

I don’t know whether it makes me happy, but it’s nice as it’s peaceful. Nature makes me very happy, and nature shows peace where you don’t always have to be perfect. I like nature very much because it calms me down. You don’t always have to be on the phone, and you can go to nature to calm down. (P259)

This participant initially expresses hesitation as to whether nature engenders happiness, but subsequently admits that nature makes happy because it calms you down and does not judge you. By mentioning the phone, the participant raises the importance of social media for adolescents and highlights that in nature it is possible to retreat from it.

Discussion

In the present study, we have addressed adolescents’ conceptions of the relation between nature and happiness in Finland. The results of the analysis of 184 thematic writings show that the majority of the 15- to 16-year-old participants associated only positive characteristics with nature. One fourth of the participants were unsure about nature-based happiness and also mentioned negative aspects of nature. A small minority denied that nature would make them happy, at least personally. The adolescents mainly associated outdoor recreation with nearby nature and cottage environments, while they described common outdoor activities such as walking and jogging as ways to connect with nature and benefit from its happiness-enhancing aspects.

These findings are in line with previous results concerning the well-being effects of nature (see Keniger et al., 2013; Roberts et al., 2020) as well as results specifically addressing the relation between nature and happiness (e.g., MacKerron & Mourato, 2013; Zhang et al., 2017). For adolescents, natural settings enable various activities and meeting up with friends, but also support retreat behaviors by enabling privacy, and providing freedom from the pressures of everyday life, and a place to calm down (see Birch et al., 2020; Greenwood & Gatersleben, 2016; Milligan & Bingley, 2007; Rantala & Puhakka, 2020; Wiens et al., 2016). As a consequence, nature provides opportunities not only for physical activity but also for emotional and cognitive renewal. The description of multisensory experiences of nature illustrates that well-being is often derived from pleasant sensations and embodied experiences (see Puhakka et al., 2017). The results indicate that adolescents are well aware of and share conceptions of natural elements and outdoor activities that generate experiences of happiness. The responses highlighting that nature should be protected from degradation demonstrated a caring relationship with nature. As those who had a positive stance toward nature-based happiness particularly expressed environmental concerns, there may be a connection between nature experiences and environmental consciousness or pro-environmental behavior (see Rosa et al., 2018).

The thematic writings demonstrated that most of the adolescents did not have difficulties in conceptualizing the abstract concept of happiness and could provide tangible examples of characteristics in nature that generate (or prevent) a happy feeling. Many adolescents were able to describe their experiences of happiness in nature in detail, describing the mental state as well as the activities or elements in nature that enhance happiness. In the writings, the concept of happiness in nature seemed to have elements of both the subjective well-being-based definition (e.g., Diener, 2009) and the definition based on different happiness orientations (Peterson et al., 2005). In general, the descriptions of being in nature were characterized by positive emotions (e.g., safety, peacefulness) and the absence of negative emotions (e.g., distress). In addition, there were strong elements of orientations of meaning (e.g., remembering good experiences) and engagement (e.g., mental and physical) as well as a general tone of pleasure (e.g., relaxing). Based on our findings, the lay definitions of happiness are similar to previous researcher-set definitions but are not limited to them. In the responses, mentions of people’s responsibility for nature in order to derive happiness reflected a recognition of one’s own actions in relation to happiness.

Although for instance Greenwood and Gatersleben (2016) and Kaplan and Kaplan (2002) have highlighted the importance of friends and social activities for adolescents’ well-being, the present findings do not confirm the significance of sociality linked to positive experiences in natural settings. The findings indicate that retreating—getting away from everyday life in the city—is important for urban adolescents’ experiences of happiness (see Wiens et al., 2016), especially for those who adopt a positive stance toward the relation between nature and happiness. As all of the participants who explicitly mentioned being alone in nature belonged to this positive group, it seems that experiences of solitude and silence are particularly important for those who have the most intimate relationship with nature. For instance, Pálsdóttir et al. (2014) observed social quietness—the total absence of others—to be an important factor for engaging with nature and achieving inner peace and tranquility. Further research is needed, however, as it is not possible to draw wider conclusions concerning the role of individuality or sociality for adolescents’ experiences of happiness on the basis of this data.

As Finland’s rural landscape is characterized by forests and lakes and there are over half a million summer cottages in the country, it is not surprising that the adolescents mentioned these environments the most often in the context of nature-based happiness (see Rantala & Puhakka, 2019). Owning a summer cottage in Finland lacks the elitist connotations (Periäinen, 2006) and almost 50% of Finns are estimated to use second homes regularly (Saaristoasiain neuvottelukunta & Maa-ja metsätalousministeriö 2016). Second homes are usually located in green environments providing a means of maintaining connections with nature for urban residents. Pouta et al. (2006) found that access to a summer cottage increased the rate of participating in outdoor recreation in Finland. Summer is a typical season to spend time at a cottage and in other natural settings, which partly explains the dominance of summer-related content in the adolescents’ writings. The ambivalent group’s happiness in nature seemed to be particularly conditional and dependent on seasonal conditions. These results are in line with the study by Wiens et al. (2016), which indicated that Finnish girls perceived summer as an activating time and winter as a restricting time. Adolescents’ attitudes toward nature in connection with winter—and changing climatic conditions—are worth exploring in future studies.

Based on the findings of the present study, situational and physical circumstances are bound to cultural perceptions of nature. The Finnish mentality and self-understanding have been strongly bound to nature and the countryside, and summer cottages by lakes have become an integral part of Finnish culture (Periäinen, 2006). For the adolescents, the idea that Finns have a special relationship with nature was a culturally understandable aspect of a positive auto-stereotype of Finns who enjoy the silence and solitude of nature (see de Paola et al., 2020). Many participants used expressions such as “we Finns” or “Finns” when they explained how nature generates happiness. In fact, even many of those who had an ambivalent stance on the relation between nature and happiness acknowledged that Finns are happy in nature, although they might personally have other sources of happiness themselves. Many adolescents also repeated the Finns’ traditional source of pride in the fact that Finnish nature is still clean and pure. Few completely questioned the idea of the relation between nature and happiness.

Hence, the present study supports previous Finnish studies (Mäkinen & Tyrväinen, 2008; Puhakka, 2014) which have indicated that there are signs of polarization in relation to nature. In the thematic writings, most participants conveyed an image of a straightforward and intimate relationship with nature and mentioned many kinds of independent and physical activities, while a minority did not show any interest in nature. Some participants wrote about climatic conditions (e.g., coldness, snow) or bugs, but many of them did not give clear reasons for their disinterest. Only two explicitly mentioned that being in nature was distressing or uncomfortable. None of the participants described nature as an unsafe or scary place (cf. Milligan & Bingley, 2007; Woodgate & Skarlato, 2015), although fears might be related to bugs such as ticks.

Regarding the reliability of the analysis, the findings cannot necessarily be generalized to other contexts because the study was conducted in a specific cultural and geographical area in Finland. Outdoor recreation is related to one’s residential environment (see Sievänen & Neuvonen, 2011), which means that compared to the mid-sized city of Lahti, adolescents in rural areas may relate to nature differently and have different experiences of it, while in more urban areas such as the capital, adolescents may have fewer opportunities to spend time in a natural environment. Even the concept of nature itself may have different meanings in different geographical and cultural contexts. Further comparative studies based on representative samples are needed to identify cultural differences and adolescents’ connection to nature in different countries. Are Finnish adolescents in closer contact with nature than adolescents in more urbanized countries, for example, or are they only repeating positive auto-stereotypes of nature-connected Finnish people?

Furthermore, the elicitation material used—the video depicting different scenes of Finnish nature—may have affected the content of the writings, not least if the participants had uncritically accepted the presented idea implying the connection between nature and happiness. However, most of the outdoor activities and effects on happiness mentioned in the writings were not presented in the video, which shows that the participants developed their ideas independently and creatively. Most participants also explicitly stated that nature makes them happy personally, and they described their own experiences and feelings in more detail. The fact that only nine writings were excluded from the material implies that the adolescents were motivated to participate in the study and present their thoughts.

In general, the richness of the material demonstrated the benefits of video elicitation in facilitating the qualitative data collection (see Harper, 2002). However, as some adolescents seemed to be less willing or able to write about their feelings in relation to nature, supplementing thematic writings with interviews or focus group discussions could be fruitful in future studies. Furthermore, the qualitative material collected in the study could not be used to evaluate the strength of the participants’ connectedness to nature—a factor that has been linked to experiences of happiness (Capaldi et al., 2014). Future researchers should strive to approach the relation between nature and happiness by combining different methodological tools and research settings to provide a more multifaceted understanding of the effects and experiences of happiness in natural environments.

Despite its limitations, the present study showed the potentiality of an inductive and explorative approach in the analysis of different meanings that adolescents associate with nature and happiness. The relatively large number of thematic writings made it possible to reach saturation in the material collection and to analyze both macro-level conceptions as well as micro-level definitions of happiness (Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2005). Regarding the validity of the analysis, the content-driven inductive approach provided a systematic way to explore the different meanings that the participants attached to the topic. However, qualitative material always allows different interpretations and theory-driven approaches, for example, a phenomenological analysis, would shed more light on the lived experiences of adolescents (e.g., Guest et al., 2012).

Conclusion

The present study has shown the value of thematic writings as research material for analyzing adolescents’ personal experiences and definitions of nature-based happiness. The thematic analysis of 184 writings makes the importance of nature visible regarding adolescents’ happiness and general well-being in their everyday lives. The results show that the majority of the 15- to 16-year-old Finnish participants associated only positive characteristics with nature. However, polarization in relation to nature is demonstrated by the fact that a small minority did not see any connection between happiness and nature. In some other countries, there may be a greater decline in adolescents’ outdoor experiences and everyday connection with nature (see Soga & Gaston, 2016). As the adolescent years are a critical phase for the relationship with nature (Kaplan & Kaplan, 2002), special efforts should be made to support adolescents’ outdoor recreation in urbanized societies. Both individual families and society at large can support being in contact with nature and deriving well-being benefits from it (see Lovelock et al., 2016; Rantala & Puhakka, 2019).

As the present results show that adolescents in general share the idea of nature enhancing well-being and generating happiness, drawing from the findings we highlight the importance of hearing adolescents’ voices in decision-making and land-use planning to provide opportunities for outdoor activities and close contact with nature. Current marketing campaigns such as “Rent a Finn” may not appeal to adolescents, but campaigns that specifically target adolescents could help create a positive image of outdoor recreation and prevent the temporary discounting of the importance of nature.

The findings provide valuable insights into the worth of nearby nature in supporting adolescents’ well-being. As Birch et al. (2020) demonstrated, urban green areas can be important sites for ‘being away’ and being able to disconnect from everyday worries and concerns (see Kaplan, 1995). It is important not only to build urban parks but also to preserve slightly managed natural environments that generate opportunities to experience and explore nature, and to promote easy accessibility to more remote natural areas (see Rantala & Puhakka, 2019). Finally, because there is an association between childhood visits to natural settings and later adulthood visits (Soga & Gaston, 2016; Ward Thompson et al., 2008), and parents’ attitudes affect children’s outdoor recreation (McFarland et al., 2014), motivating parents to frequently spend time in nature with their children may have a long-lasting effect on their happiness.

Acknowledgment

The authors are very grateful to all respondents and the participating schools in the city of Lahti.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no potential conflict of interest in conducting this study.

Additional information

Funding

The research was funded by European Social Fund (project code S21120) and the Academy of Finland (grant number 13212501).