Nature Connectedness and Life Satisfaction: Exploring the Mediating Effect of Loneliness

Objective: This study investigated the relationship between nature connectedness and life satisfaction among adolescents, with a specific focus on the mediating role of loneliness and the moderating effects of gender and family structure. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 700 adolescents (M =16.4, SD =1.2;54% female) from secondary and higher secondary schools in Gujrat and Sambriyal. Participants completed standardized measures assessing nature connectedness, life satisfaction and loneliness. Pearson correlation, multiple regression analyses and mediation analysis were conducted to explore the direct and indirect relationships and moderation effects of gender and family structure were also tested. Results: The results demonstrated that the life satisfaction multiple regression analysis predicted by nature connectedness and loneliness was statistically significant, R² = .43, F (2, 697) = 260.20, p < .001. Nature connectedness was a statistically significant positive predictor of life satisfaction, (β = .36, p < .001) while loneliness was a statistically significant negative predictor of life satisfaction, (β = –.38, p < .001). A mediation analysis indicated that loneliness partially mediated the nature connectedness to life satisfaction relationship. Correlational analyses showed that nature connectedness was significantly positively correlated with life satisfaction (r = .56, p < .01) and significantly negatively correlated with loneliness (r = –.54, p < .01), while loneliness was significantly negatively correlated with life satisfaction (r = –.58, p < .01). We discovered the following differences in relation with gender and family structure noting that males and adolescents from nuclear families had higher levels of nature connectedness and life satisfaction, while having lower levels of loneliness than females and adolescents from non-nuclear families. Conclusion:  The results above emphasize loneliness as a crucial psychological mechanism of nature connectedness influencing well-being in adolescents. The findings also indicate the need to account for demographic and social characteristics, such as gender and family structure, in the development of nature-based interventions to promote adolescent mental health.