Is a greater extent of nature visits associated with better well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic?

Sammanfattning: The Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected countries all over the world and impacted many areas of our lives. Research studying psychosocial issues caused by Covid-19 addressed that during the pandemic well-being was lower. Well-being integrates mental health, clinical and developmental theories to provide a better understanding of positive psychological functioning. An abundance of studies demonstrated that natural environments, both wild and managed, have a positive effect on people’s being. In the present study, the changes in people’s nature visits as well as the links between nature visits and well-being has been investigated. The current sample (1902 participants) was from the corona survey, a subsample of the SLOSH. During the Covid-19 pandemic, some people started visiting nature more, while others reduced their visits. Well-being was lower than before. The observed directions of the associations were: nature visits were positively linked with the quality of life, while depressive moods from 2020 and 2021 were linked negatively. Change in forest visits (<65 female group) was the best well-being predictor from all types of nature exposure.