Influences of Personal, Social, and Environmental Factors on Workday Use Frequency of the Nearby Outdoor Recreation Areas by Working People

Abstract

Contact with nature positively impacts one's wellbeing and overall health. This study examined the relevance of 16 personal, social, and living environment factors for workday use frequency of nearby outdoor recreation areas (NORAs) by 262 gainfully employed Swiss citizens. Hierarchical regression revealed that emotion work, sedentary work, low energy level, area knowledge, dog ownership, and temporal distance are significant predictors of workday NORA use frequency. The results suggest that social and personal conditions are more important predictors of the use frequency of NORAs than living environment factors and that the type and amount of work predicts nearby outdoor recreation behavior.