The Influence of Outdoor Activities and Campus Landscape on University Students’ Subjective Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Huojin Chen and Jian-Hong Ye ()
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Huojin Chen: College of Art and Design, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Jian-Hong Ye: Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-21

Abstract: COVID-19 is reshaping the relationship between humans and their living environment, potentially generating a profound impact on human physical and mental health and quality of life. The objective of this study was to explore how outdoor activities and the campus landscape impacted the subjective well-being (SWB) of Chinese university students in the pre-COVID-19 era (before December 2019) and during the COVID-19 era (from December 2019 to early December 2022). This study collected 439 valid questionnaires from students at a Chinese university, with the questions focusing on the frequency and length of time that university students of different genders, grades, and abilities to cover their living expenses participated in outdoor activities in the pre- and COVID-19 eras, as well as the changes in their SWB. Paired sample t tests revealed a significant decrease in SWB during the COVID-19 era compared with the pre-COVID-19 era, while independent sample t tests and a one-way ANOVA showed that changes in the SWB of university students pre- and during COVID-19 were not related to their gender or their ability to cover their living expenses, but were related to their grades. Hierarchical linear regression showed that outdoor activities in the COVID-19 era had a significant effect on mitigating the decline in students’ SWB. These results suggest a proactive way to increase resilience to future public health challenges and other crises of human life safety.

Keywords: campus landscape; mental health; outdoor activities; subjective well-being; university students (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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