People’s desire to be in nature and how they experience it are partially heritable
- Journal:
- PLOS Biology
- Published:
- DOI:
- 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001500
- Affiliations:
- 7
- Authors:
- 11
Research Highlight
How our appreciation for nature is encoded within our genes
© Westend61/Westend61/Getty Images
People partially inherit a love for the great outdoors from their parents, a study on twins has shown.
Being in nature is known to enhance mental health and a sense of wellbeing, but the degree a person appreciates being in nature varies considerably between individuals. Previously, it wasn’t apparent how much of that appreciation is down to our DNA.
But now, a team led by researchers from National University of Singapore has shown that people’s desire to be enveloped in nature and their tendency to visit natural areas are moderately heritable traits.
The team questioned more than 1,100 pairs of twins, both identical and non-identical, on their desire to be out in nature and how often they actually frequented natural spaces. The results revealed that identical twins were more likely to share similar dispositions towards nature than non-identical twins.
The team estimated that heritability accounts for 46% of an appreciation for nature, with environmental factors explaining the rest of the variability.
References
- PLoS Biology 20, e3001500 (2022). doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001500