The combined use of involvement and place attachment was first used by Williams, Patterson, Roggenbuck, and Watson (1992) in their study of visitors to four American
wilderness areas. They examined the emotional/symbolic view of recreation places through an analysis of the relationships between use history of the place, perceived
substitutability, sociodemographic and trip characteristics, and sensitivity to wilderness impacts and levels of attachment. Citing the specialisation literature as a source, they incorporated some of Wellman, Roggenbuck, and Smith’s
(1982) scale items into a wilderness attachment scale. They found that stronger place and wilderness attachment was associated with previous visits, rural residence, a setting focus, visiting alone, visiting on weekdays, hunting in the area, and sensitivity to site impacts and horse encounters. Place attachment was associated with a lack of nonwilderness substitutes, lower income, and lower education. Wilderness attachment was associated with membership in wilderness and conservation organisations, visits to more wilderness areas, a preference for longer visits, participation in nature study, and sensit