Redzovic Skender Elez, Johansen Ingvill Jeanette Hektoen, Bonsaksen Tore
Department of Neuromedicine and Movement Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Department of Health and Nursing Science, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Elverum, Norway.
Front Public Health. 2025 Mar 12;13:1517089. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1517089. eCollection 2025.
Adolescent mental health challenges are on the rise globally, and Norway is no exception. Wildlife activities (WAs) have been increasingly promoted as a potential measure to improve adolescent well-being. However, there is limited research on the extent of adolescent participation in these activities and its association with mental distress among Norwegian adolescents.
This study has a twofold aim: to explore the degree of adolescent participation in WAs and to examine the association between this participation and mental distress.
The study design was cross-sectional, using Young-HUNT data from Norway collected between 2017 and 2019. A total of 6,361 participants were included in the final sample. Participants were categorized based on their level of participation in WAs, and ordinal regression analysis was conducted to assess factors associated with their level of wildlife activity. Furthermore, multivariate linear regression analysis assessed the association between wildlife activity and mental distress.
The majority of participants reported low levels (34.6%) or medium levels (53.2%) of engagement in WAs. Adjusted analyses showed that higher levels of participation in WAs were associated with a range of factors, particularly female sex, having both parents born in Norway, and maintaining a medium or high level of physical activity. A weak yet statistically significant relationship was identified between higher levels of wildlife activity and increased mental distress among the participants.
Various sociodemographic, lifestyle, and social factors influence the involvement in WAs. The observed weak but significant association between higher participation in WAs, and increased mental distress raises questions about the assumption that nature and WAs are universally beneficial for adolescent mental health. These results highlight the need for further research to explore the underlying mechanisms of this relationship. These findings also caution policymakers against making generalized claims about the mental health benefits of WAs without a deeper consideration of individual and contextual factors.
全球范围内青少年心理健康挑战日益增加，挪威也不例外。野生动物活动（WAs）作为改善青少年幸福感的一项潜在措施，得到了越来越多的推广。然而，关于挪威青少年参与这些活动的程度及其与心理困扰之间的关联，研究却很有限。
本研究有两个目的：一是探究青少年参与野生动物活动的程度，二是检验这种参与与心理困扰之间的关联。
本研究采用横断面设计，使用了2017年至2019年期间从挪威收集的Young-HUNT数据。最终样本共纳入6361名参与者。参与者根据其参与野生动物活动的水平进行分类，并进行有序回归分析以评估与其野生动物活动水平相关的因素。此外，多元线性回归分析评估了野生动物活动与心理困扰之间的关联。
大多数参与者报告参与野生动物活动的水平较低（34.6%）或中等（53.2%）。调整后的分析表明，更高水平的野生动物活动参与与一系列因素相关，特别是女性、父母双方均出生在挪威以及保持中等或高水平的体育活动。在参与者中，较高水平的野生动物活动与增加的心理困扰之间发现了一种微弱但具有统计学意义的关系。
各种社会人口统计学、生活方式和社会因素会影响对野生动物活动的参与。观察到的较高参与野生动物活动与增加的心理困扰之间微弱但显著的关联，对自然和野生动物活动对青少年心理健康普遍有益这一假设提出了质疑。这些结果凸显了进一步研究以探索这种关系潜在机制的必要性。这些发现也提醒政策制定者，在没有更深入考虑个体和背景因素的情况下，不要对野生动物活动对心理健康的益处进行一概而论的宣称。
