Loneliness that negatively influences well-being in international students is common, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leisure may help international students reduce loneliness. To inform efforts to promote well-being for international students, this study examined whether two types of leisure social support (leisure emotional support and leisure instrumental support) and flow while participating in leisure predict loneliness. In total, 332 international students who attended a private university in Taiwan participated in the study. In-person surveys were used to measure leisure emotional support, leisure instrumental support, flow, and loneliness. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to analyze data. Results indicated that high levels of leisure emotional support and flow predicted low levels of loneliness, but high levels of leisure instrumental support did not. The study addresses implications of these results in terms of reducing loneliness experienced by international students, without depending highly on the presence of others.

Forest bathing as a recreation activity may connect to experiences of social support, activity attachment, and purpose in life (PIL) among older adults. However, it is unclear whether activity attachment mediates the relationship between social support and PIL experienced by older forest bathers. To address this area of limited research, we examined such a mediated relationship in this population. In total, 292 older forest bathers completed a survey including measures of social support, activity attachment, and PIL. We performed structural equation modeling to analyze data. Results indicated that high levels of social support predicted high levels of activity attachment; high levels of activity attachment predicted high levels of PIL; and high levels of social support predicted high levels of PIL. Therefore, it is advantageous to create contexts and situations conducive for forest bathing to develop social support when practitioners attempt to help older adults foster activity attachment and PIL.