We evaluate methods to calculate the economic value of protected areas derived from the improved mental health of visitors. A conservative global estimate using quality-adjusted life years, a standard measure in health economics, is US$6 trillion p.a. This is an order of magnitude greater than the global value of protected area tourism, and two to three orders greater than global aggregate protected area management agency budgets. Future research should: refine this estimate using more precise methods; consider interactions between health and conservation policies and budgets at national scales; and examine links between personalities and protected area experiences at individual scale. C onservation is key to sustainability 1-3 , but biodiversity continues to decrease worldwide 4-6. Protected areas remain the core of global conservation strategies 7,8 , but are under increasing pressure 9-11 from political and economic factors 12,13 as well as climate change 14. Conservation relies on political advocacy, influenced by economic arguments 2,15 , based on ecosystem services 16 or tourism 17. Nature exposure improves human mental health and wellbeing 18-21. Poor mental health imposes major costs on human economies 22-24. Therefore, parks have an additional economic value through the mental health of visitors 25. We refer to this as a health services value. This may be considered as a component of ecosystem services value 26. Here we consider how to calculate health services value. Research on nature exposure and mental health falls into four main categories 20 : spatial correlations between nature access and mental health 27-29 ; joint patterns across populations 30,31 ; experimental tests linking nature exposure to specific psychological parameters 18-22,32-34 ; and qualitative analyses examining the psychological processes underlying these links 35,36. Healthrelated benefits include improved attention 32 , cognition 33 , sleep 37 , and stress recovery 38 , and apply across demographic and socioeconomic population sectors 18,19,25. Research on economic costs of poor mental health recognises four main categories: treatments 39,40 , both consultations and pharmaceuticals; caregivers, both paid and unpaid (e.g. family members); lost workplace productivity, through absenteeism 39 or poor performance (presenteeism) 41 ; and antisocial behaviour 42-44 , both public (e.g. vandalism) and private (e.g. domestic violence). Human economies have underinvested severely in nature conservation, despite the high value of ecosystem services 16 , because these services have been provided free of charge. The same applies for health services, but we suggest that there may be one key difference. In agrarian and manufacturing economies, the relationship between individual mental health and society-scale economic performance is a step function: irrelevant, until it is severe enough to generate crime or workplace absenteeism. In professional and service economies, however, the relationship is gradual: poor mental health decreases contribut...

No abstract

No abstract

It is increasingly recognised that strategies to treat or prevent mental illness alone do not guarantee a mentally healthy population. Emerging adults have been identified as a particularly vulnerable population when it comes to mental health concerns. While mental illnesses are carefully monitored and researched, less is known about mental wellbeing or flourishing, that is, experience of both high hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. This cross-sectional study examined the prevalence of flourishing and its predictors among emerging adults in Australia. 1155 emerging adults aged 18–25 years completed a survey containing measures of wellbeing, social networks, social connectedness, health status, and socio-demographic variables. Most participants (60.4%) experienced moderate levels of wellbeing, 38.6% were flourishing and 1% were languishing (low wellbeing). Flourishers were more likely to be older, identify as Indigenous, be in a romantic relationship, study at university, perceive their family background as wealthy, rate their general health status as excellent, and have higher perceived social resources. The findings show that the majority of emerging adults are not experiencing flourishing and offer an insight into potential target groups and settings, such as vocational education colleges, for emerging adult mental health promotion. Interventions that help strengthen social resources have the potential to improve the mental wellbeing of emerging adults.

Emerging adulthood is a transitional life stage with increased probability of risky and unhealthy lifestyle behaviours that are known to have strong links with premature mortality and morbidity. Wellbeing, as a positive subjective experience, is identified as a factor that encourages self-care and may steer individuals away from risky lifestyle behaviours. Investigating wellbeing–behaviour links in the emerging adult population may increase understanding of the factors that lead to, and ways to prevent, engagement in risky behaviours. This study examines the association between flourishing, that is, the experience of both high hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing, and a broad range of risky and unhealthy lifestyle behaviours among emerging adults in Australia. A cross-sectional survey of 1155 emerging adults aged 18–25 years measured wellbeing, socio-demographics, and six groups of lifestyle behaviours surrounding substance use, physical activity, diet, sex, sun protection, and driving. Bivariate and multivariate statistics were used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that flourishing was negatively associated with more dangerous types of risk behaviours, such as driving under the influence of drugs, and positively associated with self-care behaviours, such as healthier dietary behaviour and sun protection. If enabling emerging adults to flourish can contribute to reduced engagement in risky/unhealthy lifestyle behaviours, then promoting it is an important goal for health promotion efforts not only because flourishing is desirable in its own right, but also to bring about sustainable change in behaviour. Further research is needed to inform the designs of such interventions.