We investigated whether individual's affect balance is subject to nature enjoyment in their everyday lives, whether this association is consistent across demographic subgroups, and whether it is mediated by stress and/or compensatory control striving. Longitudinal data of a population survey with oversamples of black persons and residents of urban areas including daily-diary records were used (MIDUS, 2017-19; N>8,700 observations). The findings show that nature enjoyment has a positive within-person effect on affect balance that is not moderated by socioeconomic status, ethnicity, age, or sex. It is additive to the experience of positive events, stressors, and health-symptoms severity. Nature enjoyment is found to be particularly beneficial in highly stressed individuals and in those employing compensatory secondary control strategies. These findings offer practical insights to enhance affective wellbeing and suggest a significant role of individual control striving.
We investigated whether individual's affect balance is subject to nature enjoyment in their everyday lives, whether this association is consistent across demographic subgroups, and whether it is mediated by stress and/or compensatory control striving. Longitudinal data of a population survey with oversamples of black persons and residents of urban areas including daily-diary records were used (MIDUS, 2017-19; N>8,700 observations). The findings show that nature enjoyment has a positive within-person effect on affect balance that is not moderated by socioeconomic status, ethnicity, age, or sex. It is additive to the experience of positive events, stressors, and health-symptoms severity. Nature enjoyment is found to be particularly beneficial in highly stressed individuals and in those employing compensatory secondary control strategies. These findings offer practical insights to enhance affective wellbeing and suggest a significant role of individual control striving.