Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology

First Advisor

Amber Nelson, PsyD

Second Advisor

Aundrea Paxton, PsyD

Third Advisor

Winston Seegobin, PhD

Abstract

The present study investigated the impact of nature exposure on the perceived relationship satisfaction of adults with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) symptoms. In addition, researchers were interested in looking at how emotion regulation was influenced as well as what factors a participant's age, gender, ethnicity, education level, relationship type, relationship orientation, frequency in nature, nature setting, and formal diagnosis of ADHD, played into this. Upon completing a questionnaire, participants (N = 101) were asked to complete 120 min a week of a nature activity for 4 weeks. At the end of the experiment, participants completed the same questionnaire to compare results. Of the original participants, 76 individuals completed both the pre and posttest. The data was analyzed using analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of variance. Results indicated that participants showed increased relationship satisfaction and decreased emotional dysregulation. They also demonstrated significant differences within the levels of ethnicity, nature exposure frequency and education level, demonstrating positive correlations associated with higher levels of education and number of times in nature. Given the accessibility of using nature as an intervention, more research is needed to show how much of an impact this can have on various groups of people.

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