Species-Specific Wildlife Encounter Expectations and Restorative Potential in Swedish Local Nature

Abstract

Nearby natural settings are often used for psychological recovery, yet their restorative value may change when specific animals are expected along paths, woodland edges, or rural walking routes. This paper examines species-specific changes in perceived restorative potential for roe deer, squirrel, wild boar, and wolf in Swedish local natural settings. The material includes 223 adults from J”onk”oping, Falun, and “Ostersund, with residence, gender, age, outdoor experience, domination orientation, and mutualism orientation included as respondent characteristics. Restorative change was measured as the difference between frequent expected encounter and no expected encounter. Roe deer and squirrel increased restorative potential by 0.94 and 0.96, respectively, while wild boar and wolf reduced it by -0.82 and -0.80. Mutualism orientation contributed most to roe-deer and squirrel responses, gender to wild boar responses, and domination orientation to wolf responses. The findings show that wildlife presence has no single restorative meaning: familiar low-threat animals can strengthen restorative appraisal, whereas conflict-associated animals may reduce relaxed use through vigilance, perceived loss of control, and value-based disagreement.