ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Environmental Psychology
Ocean connectedness, experiences, and stewardship: A qualitative study of American Adults
Provisionally accepted
- Healthy Oceans, Healthy People, Santa Cruz, CA, United States
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This qualitative study explores the various ways in which Americans experience the marine environment. To this end, thematic analysis was applied to analyze survey responses of a representative sample (N = 1,138) of U.S. adults, standardized for age, sex, and regional location. Two major vantage points for the analysis were what Americans think the ocean teaches them about life, as well as what they consider meaningful ocean experiences. The results revealed that important themes related to ocean connectedness include well-being, positive emotions, recreational activities, encounters with marine creatures, bonding with friends and family, as well as spiritual and cultural connections. These nuanced and rich insights can help to design impactful ocean conservation campaigns that, in turn, will foster deeper appreciation for the ocean's life-sustaining role and may promote ocean stewardship.
Keywords: Blue spaces, ocean connectedness, Positive emotions, Pro-environmental behaviors, Well-being
Received: 22 Jul 2025; Accepted: 02 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 O'Halloran. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chris O'Halloran
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.