Does the Love of Forests Bring Happiness? Life Satisfaction of Polish Students and Their Attitude Towards the Forest

The aim of the study is to determine the connection between the attitude towards the forest and life satisfaction of Polish students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The basic question concerned whether forestry students, people who want to connect their professional life with the forest, are more satisfied with their lives than their peers. The study was conducted on a sample of 650 randomly chosen students from Polish universities using The Satisfaction With Life Scale by E. Diener, R.A. Emmons, R.J. Larsen and S. Griffin and an original questionnaire measuring the approach towards the forest – LAS scale. The scale indicated good psychometric properties. There are 3 subscales which meased: the perceived benefits from spending time in the forest; the degree of involvement in exploring the forest and working to its advantage; fears connected with spending time in the forest. The results of the statistical analysis have led to conclusions confirming the relationship between life satisfaction and the results of LAS scale. People satisfied with their lives are more involved in exploring the forest, they enjoy more benefits connected with forest recreation and express fewer fears. In addition, forestry students are characterised by the highest involvement and the lowest level of fears connected with the forest. As far as life satisfaction is concerned, they are in the lead among Polish students just behind students of medical and artistic studies. A worrying phenomenon, which was revealed in the study, is the low life satisfaction of students of social studies which can be a consequence of isolation and lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic.