Spending time outdoors in natural environments is associated with an array of benefits to individuals’ health and wellbeing, as well as being implicated in the development of connections to the natural world, attachment to place, and environmental stewardship behaviours. Disparities between population subgroups in relation to frequency of nature contact may, however, shape the extent to which natural environments deliver benefits to marginalised population subgroups. In this paper we examine disparities in contact with nature amongst the adult population of Scotland, UK using cross-sectional data from the Scottish Household Survey (N = 19,441). The analysis proceeds to explore whether the observed ‘gender gap’ between men and women in nature contact persists across the intersections of population subgroups and geographies. The findings point to inequalities in contact with nature which should be considered in public policy agendas to promote use of natural environments across urban and rural areas. The findings also highlight the value of adopting intersectional perspectives in the consideration of environmental justice issues surrounding access to natural environments.

在自然环境中度过户外时光与个人健康和福祉的一系列好处有关，并与发展与自然世界的联系、对地方的依恋和环境管理行为有关。然而，与自然接触频率有关的人口亚群之间的差异可能会影响自然环境为边缘化人口亚群带来好处的程度。在本文中，我们使用苏格兰家庭调查 (N = 19,441) 的横截面数据研究了英国苏格兰成年人与自然接触的差异。分析继续探讨在自然接触中观察到的男性和女性之间的“性别差距”是否在人口亚群和地理的交叉点上持续存在。研究结果指出了与自然接触的不平等，应在公共政策议程中加以考虑，以促进城市和农村地区对自然环境的利用。研究结果还强调了在考虑与自然环境接触相关的环境正义问题时采用交叉观点的价值。