The way people perceive contact with nature may impact their environmental attitudes and psychological well-being (WB). Nature relatedness (NR) refers to the affective, cognitive, and experiential aspects of individuals’ connection to nature. The aim of the presented research concentrates on the assessment of the relationship between well-being, self-control and connectedness with the natural environment. The data was collected via online questionnaire between March and April 2022. In the study, we combined descriptive statistics with analysis of variance. We also quantitatively assessed correlations between major components of NR scale and psychological WB across men’ and women’ inquires. The results showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between the general index of NR and overall psychological WB. Furthermore, correlation between specific aspects of NR and WB subscales were also observed. These interactions are considerable among both men and women. We have also identified a major correlation between NR and self-control, which indicates the link between the way a person approaches oneself and natural environment. Finally, the analysis provides evidence that women are on average more related to nature, although the men may benefit more from this kind of relationship. Further gender differences could be observed in terms of nature-relatedness perspective component, general self-control, score and overall NR score These relationships are highly vital among men while irrelevant among women.
This literature review shows that there is no up-to-date common approach to assess the recreational potential of forests. The aim of the study is to present methodological and practical aspects of the evaluation of forests in urban environments for recreational purposes based on the example of urban forests in Poznań (Poland). In this research, the following evaluation criteria were selected: types of forest habitats, ages of dominant species, stand composition, stocking index, the share of undergrowth, soil cover, canopy closure, and surface water. All these criteria are presented in the forest management plan (FMP). We prove that the majority of stands within the study area (81.86%) have medium potential for recreational purposes. Moreover, regarding recreation services, documents existing within the study area are not specified enough. The undoubted advantages of the proposed method are a forestry perspective on the problem, a uniform dataset included in FMPs, data availability, and the possibility of comparing data from different areas.
3 February 2025 in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching social and economic consequences. They are visible particularly in the functioning of local labour markets, affecting less privileged groups such as migrant workers, in a specific way. Here, our analysis aims to identify the strategies of adaptation of Ukrainian economic migrants to the changing situation in the local labour market in the Poznań agglomeration during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis relies on the results from quantitative research on changes in the demand for labour and adjustment of competence of immigrants to the Poznań agglomeration labour market throughout the pandemic and in the perspective of the nearest future, as well as on qualitative research conducted using the IDI (in-depth interviews) technique, carried out via the purposive sampling of 30 economically active Ukrainian migrant workers. The identified adaptation strategies are organised according to the assumptions of Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of capital(s). The capital of the researched group with respect to the labour market is treated as both the potential and resources the immigrants offer, produce, apply, and mutually convert in the implementation of their own adaptation strategies to the changing situation of the labour market. We extracted eight types of migrant adaptation strategies with respect to the labour market. These strategies differ in terms of objectives, resources, time perspectives, and other factors considered to be important from migrants’ perspectives. On the basis of interviews, we were able to assess the robustness of these strategies in view of economic shocks and identify the process of capital conversion and exchange.
Recreational activity undertaken within urban green spaces (UGS) is an action that could be self-governed and self-regulated by a given person under the pressure of COVID-19. We aimed to identify the factors that induce or reduce the frequency of recreational activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors were explored among two distinct fields: (1) demographic variables and (2) stress-coping strategies. The former is associated with a body of literature on socioeconomic determinants of physical activity. The latter is derived from psychological studies on coping responses to problems. In this paper, we present an interdisciplinary perspective on human recreational activity during the pandemic. We collected information on stress-coping strategies and the patterns of urban green recreation among 376 prime-age Polish adults with different places of residence. We observed that people who use forests daily had higher scores of acceptance as a coping strategy than people using green spaces only on weekends. As choosing acceptance as a coping strategy is typical for those who consider their situation to be irreversible, green recreation may help to acclimate individuals to stressful situations that cannot be easily changed or controlled, which is the case for the pandemic. Moreover, we found that active coping, as well as avoidant coping, were predictors of increased use of green spaces during the pandemic. This conclusion affirms that green recreation as a form of reducing COVID-19-induced stress is associated with the dual nature of coping (active and avoidant). Further research is necessary to better understand of motivation to use urban green recreation, especially when practiced as a method of strengthening mental health.