Abstract
Although mindfulness and nature connectedness are recognized for enhancing well-being, little is known about the influence of environmental context on these benefits. This study examined whether a brief mindfulness intervention would improve subjective well-being, nature connectedness, and stress when practiced outdoors on campus versus indoors in a laboratory. Using a 3 × 2 mixed design, 53 commuter students were randomly assigned to either an outdoor, indoor, or waitlist control group, completing two 15-minute mindfulness sessions. Measures of life satisfaction, affect, nature connectedness, and perceived stress were collected at pre- and posttest. Contrary to expectations and previous findings, no significant effects of group or time emerged on any dependent variable. This unexpected outcome may reflect unique characteristics of this sample, which included commuter students with high depression scores on average. Future research should investigate how commuter status and mental health interacts with responsiveness to mindfulness and subjective well-being interventions.