ABSTRACTThe Role of the Campus Outdoor Environment on University Student Mental Health: A Study Focusing on the Michigan State University CampusByMallory Marie Koning The mental health and wellness of university students has been a pressing concern in recent years in the US and is becoming an even larger issue due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the correlations between university student mental health and their campus’s outdoor environment. To gather data for this research, an online survey was designed based on literature review and distributed to students at Michigan State University. Students were asked questions about their overall mental well-being, as well as questions about their environmental perceptions, outdoor activity, views to nature through windows and safety concerns regarding their outdoor campus environment. Among 161 survey respondents, the major findings of this study indicate a significant difference in mental health scores for windows in living quarters, where students with living quarter windows had better mental health scores (MHS) than students without living quarter windows. This study also found a marginally significant difference in the MHS for students with classroom windows, where students with classroom windows had better mental health than students without classroom windows. These results also indicated a stronger need for windows in living quarters than on campus. Other results of this study include a significant difference in MHS for students’ perception of safety on campus, outdoor work time, and perception of greenspace on campus. Future landscape designers, university planners, and student counselors will be able to use this study to determine what kinds of outdoor spaces should be created and used to improve the well-being of students.
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