Profiling adolescent par cipa on in wildlife ac vi es and its mental health implica ons: evidence from the Young-HUNT study in Norway

Skender Redzovic ^1* Ingvill Jeanette Hektoen Johansen ¹ Tore Bonsaksen ^2,3

• ¹ Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
• ² Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Elverum, Oppland, Norway
• ³ VID Specialized University, Stavanger, Norway

Background: Adolescent mental health challenges are on the rise globally, and Norway is no exception. Wildlife activities have been increasingly promoted as a potential measure to improve adolescent well-being. However, there is limited research on the extent of adolescent participation in these activities and its association with mental distress among Norwegian adolescents.Aim: This study has a twofold aim: to explore the degree of adolescent participation in wildlife activities and to examine the association between this participation and mental distress.Methods: The study design was cross-sectional, using Young-HUNT data from Norway collected 2017-2019. 6361 participants were included in the final sample. Participants were grouped according to their level of participation in wildlife activities, and ordinal regression analysis was used to assess factors associated with the participants' level of wildlife activity. Further, the association between wildlife activity and mental distress was assessed with multivariate linear regression analysis.Results: Most participants reported a low level (34.6%) or a medium level (53.2%) of wildlife activity participation. Adjusted analyses showed that higher levels of participation in wildlife activity was associated with a range of factors, most notably female gender, having both parents born in Norway, and a medium or high level of physical activity. A weak but statistically significant relationship was found between higher levels of wildlife activity and higher levels of mental distress among the participants.Conclusion: Various sociodemographic, lifestyle, and social factors influence wildlife activity involvement. The observed weak but significant association between higher participation and increased mental distress raises questions about the assumption that nature and wildlife activities are universally beneficial for adolescent mental health. These results highlight the need for further research to explore the underlying mechanisms of this relationship. They also caution policymakers against making generalized claims about the mental health benefits of wildlife activities without deeper consideration of individual and contextual factors.