The influence of contact with nature on emotional well-being is well-documented. Yet less is known about how social context and engaging in activities in nature settings affect emotional well-being. This field study aimed to address these issues. A questionnaire was distributed among visitors to six forests in Israel (N = 559). The questionnaire included demographic variables, type of activity (relaxing, hiking, or sport), the social configuration of visitor groups, group size, presence of children, and emotional well-being variables (positive affect, negative affect, vitality, and happiness). The results showed that engaging exclusively in relaxing activities is associated with a lower level of positive affect than engaging in all three types of activities (relaxing, hiking and sport) or than engaging in a combination of hiking and sport. The results also showed that being alone in the forest is associated with lower levels of happiness and vitality than being in the company of others. Being with children in the forest was associated with lower levels of positive affect than being there without children. Nevertheless, as the number of adults in the group with children increased, positive affect increased accordingly. The research findings extend our understanding of the emotional benefits of engaging in physical activity and being with others while spending time in natural environments. Moreover, the findings indicate that research on natural restorative environments must take the social context and forms of activity into consideration.

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社会背景和活动对森林游客情绪健康的影响：实地研究

与大自然的接触对情绪健康的影响是有据可查的。然而，人们对社会环境和参与自然环境活动如何影响情绪健康知之甚少。本次实地研究旨在解决这些问题。我们向参观以色列六片森林的游客发放了一份调查问卷（N = 559）。调查问卷包括人口统计变量、活动类型（放松、徒步旅行或运动）、游客群体的社会结构、群体规模、儿童的存在以及情绪健康变量（积极影响、消极影响、活力和幸福） 。结果表明，与参加所有三种类型的活动（放松、远足和运动）或远足和运动相结合相比，专门从事放松活动的积极影响程度较低。研究结果还表明，与与他人在一起相比，独自在森林中的幸福感和活力水平较低。与没有孩子的情况相比，与孩子一起在森林中所带来的积极影响程度较低。然而，随着带孩子的群体中成年人数量的增加，积极情绪也相应增加。研究结果加深了我们对在自然环境中进行体育活动和与他人相处所带来的情感益处的理解。此外，研究结果表明，对自然恢复环境的研究必须考虑社会背景和活动形式。