Love of nature partially passed on by parents, study of twins suggests

Spending time outdoors has been found to be good for mental health but different people experience and benefit from nature differently.

Love of nature is partially passed down from parents, a study of twins suggests (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Archive)

A love for nature could be passed down to children from their parents but people’s surroundings also play a role, research suggests.

The study surveyed 1,153 pairs of twins from the TwinsUK registry about how they experience nature, and asked them to rate their familiarity with and desire to be in nature.

Identical twins – who share almost 100% of their genes – held more similar views about nature and how frequently they visited nature, compared to non-identical twins who share around 50% of their genes, the researchers found.

According to the scientists, their findings indicate a moderate influence of genetics over how people experience nature.

A twin study shows that a person’s desire to be in nature and how often they experience it are influenced by both genes and personal experiences

Chia-chen Chang, National University of Singapore

Spending time outdoors has been found to be good for mental health but different people experience and benefit from nature differently.

The study provides the first evidence that genes may influence how people feel towards nature and their tendency to visit natural spaces.

Those who are nature-oriented may actively seek it out, even if that means travelling.

However, the researchers argue that planning is needed in built-up areas so everyone might have access to natural spaces and the benefits they offer.

Chia-chen Chang, at the National University of Singapore, led the study published in PLOS Biology.

She said: “Spending time in nature links to better health and wellbeing.

“A twin study shows that a person’s desire to be in nature and how often they experience it are influenced by both genes and personal experiences.”

While someone’s appreciation of nature and their tendency to visit natural spaces could be passed down from their parents, their surroundings explained more than half of the differences between them, the study found.

Those living in urban environments tended to have less experience with nature, possibly due to limited access to gardens.

Heritability – a measure of how well differences in people’s genes account for differences in their traits – also declined with age.

According to the researchers, this indicated that genetics may become less influential as people get older and experience a unique set of environmental conditions.