Sociodemographic and visit-related correlates of ‘psychologically rich’ nature visits

Experiences of nature are often appraised as interesting, novel or perspective-changing, with both experimental and qualitative work invoking these constructs, particularly regarding biodiversity. However, these psychological outcomes of interactions with nature are seldom investigated quantitatively, perhaps due to the lack of a coherent conceptualisation. Drawing on ‘psychological richness’ – an account of subjective well-being from positive psychology which unifies these constructs – we explored the predictors of psychologically rich nature visits. Using data from English adults taken from 10 years of the Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment survey (n=9,827), we used exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to identify a set of survey items pertaining to the psychological richness experienced after recent nature visits and subsequently constructed linear regression models which explored sociodemographic and visit-related variables that predicted this. To demonstrate the discriminant validity of the construct, we further examined comparable associations with survey items concerning enjoyment and perceived restorativeness. We found that ratings of psychological richness were higher on nature visits taken by people who were female, older/retired, lower socioeconomic status, non-white-British, non-disabled, car-free respondents, and on visits taken to community gardens, farmland, woodlands, uplands, inland waters, country parks, and designated sites, involving wildlife watching or fishing, and taken further afield or while on holiday. These findings were largely robust to two alternative model specifications. Associations differed in strength, sign, or statistical significance when considering enjoyment/restorativeness. We argue that these findings demonstrate that psychological richness overlaps with, but is distinct from, related psychological outcomes of nature experience. We discuss the results with regards to socioeconomic inequalities and biodiversity, and present research avenues for the continued exploration of the psychological richness of nature experience. • We posit ‘psychological richness’ as an understudied appraisal of nature experience • We studied its predictors in a large sample of voluntary nature visits from England • Higher ratings of psychological richness were given by marginalised populations • Higher ratings were also associated with biodiverse environments and activities • Differing links with enjoyment/restorativeness indicate discriminant validity