The NR-6: a new brief measure of nature relatedness
Open accessAbstract
The construct of (dis)connection with nature or "nature relatedness" has become increasingly useful in the study of environmental behavior as well as psychological health and well-being. Strong nature relatedness is associated with greater happiness and ecologically sustainable behavior. A number of scales reliably assess individual differences in nature relatedness, but some circumstances may necessitate a brief measure. We developed a short-form version of the nature relatedness scale (NR-6), comprised of 6 items from the "self" and "experience" dimensions, and tested the new scale's predictive ability across multiple samples and with longitudinal data in students, community members, and business people. The new NR-6 scale demonstrated good internal consistency, temporal stability, and predicted happiness, environmental concern, and nature contact. This new brief measure of connectedness may have advantages where time and space are limited and the research context requires an assessment of connectedness elements rather than environmental attitudes.
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Nature connectedness has been correlated with emotional and psychological well-being.
“Most relevant to this article, nature connectedness has also been correlated with emotional and psychological well-being (e.g., Nisbet and Zelenski, 2013).”
From The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis (2014) · cites this paper as Nisbet and Zelenski, 2013
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- Authors
- Nisbet, E. K., & Zelenski, J. M.
- Affiliations
- Trent University (CA)
- Carleton University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Zelenski, John M.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 4
- Pages
- 813-813
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3814587
- OpenAlex
- W2085039988
- Cited by
- 731
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 100 · 2025: 107 · 2024: 116 · 2023: 85 · 2022: 88 · 2021: 67 · 2020: 56 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 6
- FWCI
- 28.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Carleton University's Institutional Repository (MacOdrum Library, Carleton University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Environmental Education and Sustainability
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Urban Green Space and Health
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Environmental Philosophy and Ethics
- Keywords
- nature relatedness, short-form scale development, nature connection, happiness, environmental concern, nature contact, environmental behavior, psychometric validation, temporal stability, internal consistency
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