Go Greener, Less Risk: Access to Nature Is Associated with Lower Risk Taking in Different Domains during the COVID-19 Lockdown

Angelo Panno, Annalisa Theodorou, Giuseppe Alessio Carbone, Evelina De Longis, Chiara Massullo, Gianluca Cepale, Giuseppe Carrus, Claudio Imperatori and Giovanni Sanesi
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Angelo Panno: Cognitive and Clinical Psychology Laboratory, Department of Human Sciences, European University of Rome, 00163 Rome, Italy
Annalisa Theodorou: Department of Education, Roma Tre University, 00185 Rome, Italy
Giuseppe Alessio Carbone: Cognitive and Clinical Psychology Laboratory, Department of Human Sciences, European University of Rome, 00163 Rome, Italy
Evelina De Longis: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Chiara Massullo: Cognitive and Clinical Psychology Laboratory, Department of Human Sciences, European University of Rome, 00163 Rome, Italy
Gianluca Cepale: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Giuseppe Carrus: Department of Education, Roma Tre University, 00185 Rome, Italy
Claudio Imperatori: Cognitive and Clinical Psychology Laboratory, Department of Human Sciences, European University of Rome, 00163 Rome, Italy
Giovanni Sanesi: Department of Agro-Environmental Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70126 Bari, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 19, 1-17

Abstract: Specific risk attitude and risky behavior had an important boost during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this contribution, we hypothesize that access to nature during home confinement will decrease both the tendency to passive risk taking and alcohol intake. To do so, we interviewed through an online survey two samples of Italian residents during the strict lockdown due to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, in Study 1, participants were 1519 Italian residents coming from different Italian regions, whilst in Study 2, participants were 182 students at a university of southern Italy who were monitored for one week. In Study 1, the hierarchical regression analysis attested that access to nature during the lockdown mitigated the tendency to passive risk taking, over and beyond the effect of socio-demographic variables and the psychological construct of impulsiveness, an important personality correlate of risk taking. In Study 2, the hierarchical regression showed that access to green was associated with fewer glasses of alcohol drunk in a week of lockdown. This effect held over and above the effect of socio-demographic variables and the drinking behavior before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In both studies, findings confirmed the beneficial effect of access to nature in specific risk-taking domains. Theoretical future directions, as well as practical implications for the management of the COVID-19 emergency by policymakers, are discussed.

Keywords: passive risk taking; alcohol intake; access to nature; COVID-19; home confinement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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