Intergenerational pathway to nature connectedness

Nature connectedness has gained recognition for its profound benefits to individuals’ well-being and the planet’s health. Despite existing evidence on factors associated with it, an integrated understanding of how nature connectedness develops within family contexts remains underexplored. To address this gap, we propose the Intergenerational Pathway to Nature Connectedness, a model that comprehensively elucidates the intergenerational processes through which parents’ nature experiences during their own childhood influence their children’s nature connectedness. Utilizing survey data with a sample of over 2,357 parent-child dyads, we observed significant relationships among four key variables: parental childhood experiences with nature, parental nature connectedness at present, child engagement in nature experience, and child nature connectedness. Results suggest that parents who have more experience with nature during their own childhood are more likely to possess strong connectedness with nature presently, which, in turn, motivate them to arrange more nature experience for their children, cultivating similar connectedness in them. The proposed intergenerational pathway contributes to the literature by providing an integrated framework for understanding the familial processes underlying connections to nature and presenting practical implications for intervention strategies. • We proposed the Intergenerational Pathway to Nature Connectedness • The model identifies how parents’ childhood nature experiences eventually influence their children’s nature connectedness • Findings based on 2,357 parent-child dyads supports to the model • The model provides an integrated framework for understanding the familial processes underlying connections to nature