Psychological Restoration Practices Among College Students

The transition into adulthood during college is one of the most stressful phases of an individual's life (Fogle & Pettijohn, 2013). In fact, stress and poor psychological wellbeing among US undergraduate students have been on the rise (American College Health Association, 2016; Chao, 2012). College comes with academic, social, and financial responsibilities (e.g., maintaining a certain grade point average, forming interpersonal relationships, and dealing with financial doubt) that can be a burden to an undergraduate (Brougham, Zail, Mendoza, & Miller, 2009; Chao, 2012; S. Staats, Cosmar, & Kaffenberger, 2007). Furthermore, 31.8% of undergraduates reported stress to be a factor affecting their academic performance (American College, 2016). Stressors and daily demands can cause a depletion of mental and emotional resources (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989). Stress is not always harmful and can help students work harder to meet deadlines; however, prolonged stress can lead to both short-term and long-term physiological and mental health illnesses (Selye, 1956).

Maintaining psychological well-being and reducing stress during college are important because stress relief is essential for a healthy life (Garcia, Castillo, & Queralt, 2011). Thus, effective stress reduction strategies are vital for student health and well-being. Research has shown that social interactions and developing meaningful relationships (Bowman, 2010) as well as student involvement on campus (e.g., intramural sports, student organizations) can have positive effects on psychological wellbeing (Kilgo, Mollet, & Pascarella, 2016). Psychological well-being can also be realized through psychological restoration processes, which focus on relieving stress and replenishing attention fatigue. Two key theories that discuss psychological restoration, Kaplan and Kaplan's attention restoration theory (ART; 1989) and Ulrich's psychoevolutionary theory (PET; Ulrich et al., 1991), focus on the importance of natural environments for escape from daily demands and stressors. ART suggests that the constant use of directed attention—actively and intentionally focusing on a task—will contribute to mental fatigue and that involuntary attention—attention that requires little to no effort—is needed to reduce directed attention fatigue. PET indicates that psychological restoration can positively impact psychological states, behaviors, and activity within physiological systems. On the contrary, positive psychology suggests that student well-being and stress relief can occur through optimal experiences known as flow, which involve voluntarily participating in an engaging activity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Specifically, when individuals are immersed in an engaging activity (e.g., sports, yoga, writing, socializing), their attention and focus are diverted from daily demands and undesirable thoughts. Increasing one's ability to experience flow to the greatest extent can improve quality of life.

Although numerous studies have indicated that the scenic view of nature is restorative, in modern-day society many students live in urban neighborhoods and may not have ready access to natural settings (United Nations Human Settlements Programme, 2008). Students spend more time in libraries, restaurants, and coffee shops than ever before, demonstrating the need to expand the body of psychological restoration research beyond that of natural environments. Scholars of psychological restoration have primarily examined the potential of natural environments for stress recovery. A limited number of researchers have analyzed the restoration potential of stressrelieving activities in built environments. Thus, to address this gap in the literature, in this study we investigated the restoration practices and the different types of environments sought out by college students during times of stress and also explored the potential for restorative experiences in built environments.

METHOD

In February 2015, 407 matriculated undergraduates voluntarily participated in this institutional review board–approved study by taking an online survey via SurveyMonkey. com. Subjects were 18 years of age or older and were recruited through social media including Facebook (survey link was posted to relevant campus-affiliated student Facebook groups), e-mail (academic departments, campus organizations, and faculty were asked to circulate the survey link via e-mail to undergraduate and class listservs), and Instagram (lead researcher posted the survey link). Participants were randomly selected to win one of 60 Starbucks $5 gift cards.

The survey consisted of 43 questions. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983) included 14 questions that assessed the perception of stress in situations during the month before the...