IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v14y2017i3p235-d91636.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Relationship between Neighbourhood Green Space and Child Mental Wellbeing Depends upon Whom You Ask: Multilevel Evidence from 3083 Children Aged 12–13 Years

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaoqi Feng

    (Population Wellbeing and Environment Research Lab (PowerLab), School of Health and Society, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
    Early Start Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
    Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia)

  • Thomas Astell-Burt

    (Population Wellbeing and Environment Research Lab (PowerLab), School of Health and Society, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
    Early Start Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
    Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia)

Abstract

Recent reviews of the rapidly growing scientific literature on neighbourhood green space and health show strong evidence for protective and restorative effects on mental wellbeing. However, multiple informants are common when reporting mental wellbeing in studies of children. Do different informants lead to different results? This study utilised nationally representative data on Goodman’s 25-item Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire reported by 3083 children (aged 12–13 years old), and their parents and teachers. Multilevel models were used to investigate whether similar associations between child mental wellbeing (as measured using the total difficulties score and the internalising and externalising subscales) and neighbourhood green space quantity and quality are obtained regardless of the informant. After adjustment for confounders, higher green space quantity and quality were associated with consistently more favourable child mental wellbeing on all three measures, regardless of the informant. However, associations with green space quantity were statistically significant ( p < 0.05) only for the parent-reported total difficulties score and the internalising subscale. Significant associations with green space quality were consistently observed for both parent- and child-reported outcomes. Teacher-reported outcomes were not significantly associated with green space exposure. Future studies of green space and child health should acknowledge when different informants of outcomes could lead to different conclusions.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoqi Feng & Thomas Astell-Burt, 2017. "The Relationship between Neighbourhood Green Space and Child Mental Wellbeing Depends upon Whom You Ask: Multilevel Evidence from 3083 Children Aged 12–13 Years," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-11, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:3:p:235-:d:91636
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/3/235/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/3/235/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mireia Gascon & Margarita Triguero-Mas & David Martínez & Payam Dadvand & Joan Forns & Antoni Plasència & Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen, 2015. "Mental Health Benefits of Long-Term Exposure to Residential Green and Blue Spaces: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-26, April.
    2. Birute Balseviciene & Liuda Sinkariova & Regina Grazuleviciene & Sandra Andrusaityte & Inga Uzdanaviciute & Audrius Dedele & Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen, 2014. "Impact of Residential Greenness on Preschool Children’s Emotional and Behavioral Problems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-14, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Northfield, Kirstie & Saliba, Anthony J. & Harris, Keith M., 2024. "What relationship variables predict a more reliable proxy reporter of adolescent wellbeing? A systematic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    2. Gert-Jan Vanaken & Marina Danckaerts, 2018. "Impact of Green Space Exposure on Children’s and Adolescents’ Mental Health: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Liqing Zhang & Yue Wu, 2022. "Negative Associations between Quality of Urban Green Spaces and Health Expenditures in Downtown Shanghai," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-18, August.
    4. Amanda Alderton & Meredith O’Connor & Hannah Badland & Lucy Gunn & Claire Boulangé & Karen Villanueva, 2022. "Access to and Quality of Neighbourhood Public Open Space and Children’s Mental Health Outcomes: Evidence from Population Linked Data across Eight Australian Capital Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-25, June.
    5. Xiaoqi Feng & Thomas Astell-Burt, 2017. "Is Neighborhood Green Space Protective against Associations between Child Asthma, Neighborhood Traffic Volume and Perceived Lack of Area Safety? Multilevel Analysis of 4447 Australian Children," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-11, May.
    6. José Ignacio Nazif-Munoz & José Guillermo Cedeno Laurent & Matthew Browning & John Spengler & Héctor A. Olvera Álvarez, 2020. "Green, Brown, and Gray: Associations between Different Measurements of Land Patterns and Depression among Nursing Students in El Paso, Texas," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-17, November.
    7. Xinrui Wang & Libin Ouyang & Jian Lin & Pengfei An & Wanjing Wang & Lin Liu & Longfeng Wu, 2023. "Spatial Patterns of Urban Green-Blue Spaces and Residents’ Well-Being: The Mediating Effect of Neighborhood Social Cohesion," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-15, July.
    8. Nooshin Razani & Nancy K. Hills & Doug Thompson & George W. Rutherford, 2020. "The Association of Knowledge, Attitudes and Access with Park Use before and after a Park-Prescription Intervention for Low-Income Families in the U.S," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-13, January.
    9. Yijun Zhang & Suzanne Mavoa & Jinfeng Zhao & Deborah Raphael & Melody Smith, 2020. "The Association between Green Space and Adolescents’ Mental Well-Being: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-26, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Katharina Stahlmann & Emily Mena & Ronny Kuhnert & André Conrad & Gabriele Bolte, 2022. "Social Inequalities in the Association between Social Infrastructure and Mental Health: An Observational Cross-Sectional Analysis of Children and Adolescents in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-18, June.
    2. Xiangrong Jiang & Linda Larsen & William Sullivan, 2020. "Connections Between Daily Greenness Exposure and Health Outcomes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Amanda Alderton & Karen Villanueva & Meredith O’Connor & Claire Boulangé & Hannah Badland, 2019. "Reducing Inequities in Early Childhood Mental Health: How Might the Neighborhood Built Environment Help Close the Gap? A Systematic Search and Critical Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-23, April.
    4. Gert-Jan Vanaken & Marina Danckaerts, 2018. "Impact of Green Space Exposure on Children’s and Adolescents’ Mental Health: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-17, November.
    5. Qiang Wen & Haiqiang Liu & Jinyuan Chen & Huiyao Ye & Zeyu Pan, 2023. "Evaluation of Satisfaction with the Built Environment of University Buildings under the Epidemic and Its Impact on Student Anxiety," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-23, February.
    6. Hyun Jin Lee & Dong Kun Lee, 2019. "Do Sociodemographic Factors and Urban Green Space Affect Mental Health Outcomes Among the Urban Elderly Population?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-13, March.
    7. Hao-Ting Chang & Chih-Da Wu & Wen-Chi Pan & Shih-Chun Candice Lung & Huey-Jen Su, 2019. "Association Between Surrounding Greenness and Schizophrenia: A Taiwanese Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-16, April.
    8. Alhassan A. S & LeBrasseur R., 2024. "Urban Green Space as A Climate Change Adaptation Strategy in The Tamale Metropolis, Ghana," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(3), pages 2552-2573, March.
    9. Susanne Boers & Karin Hagoort & Floortje Scheepers & Marco Helbich, 2018. "Does Residential Green and Blue Space Promote Recovery in Psychotic Disorders? A Cross-Sectional Study in the Province of Utrecht, The Netherlands," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-8, October.
    10. Jun-Hyun Kim & Chanam Lee & Wonmin Sohn, 2016. "Urban Natural Environments, Obesity, and Health-Related Quality of Life among Hispanic Children Living in Inner-City Neighborhoods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, January.
    11. Phi-Yen Nguyen & Thomas Astell-Burt & Hania Rahimi-Ardabili & Xiaoqi Feng, 2021. "Green Space Quality and Health: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-38, October.
    12. Matthew H. E. M. Browning & Alessandro Rigolon, 2019. "School Green Space and Its Impact on Academic Performance: A Systematic Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-22, February.
    13. Yumeng Meng & Jiaxuan Shi & Mei Lyu & Dong Sun & Hiroatsu Fukuda, 2024. "Research into the Influence Mechanisms of Visual-Comfort and Landscape Indicators of Urban Green Spaces," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-17, October.
    14. Benjamin Guinaudeau & Mark Brink & Beat Schäffer & Martin A. Schlaepfer, 2023. "A Methodology for Quantifying the Spatial Distribution and Social Equity of Urban Green and Blue Spaces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-20, December.
    15. Amber L. Pearson & Catherine D. Brown & Aaron Reuben & Natalie Nicholls & Karin A. Pfeiffer & Kimberly A. Clevenger, 2023. "Elementary Classroom Views of Nature Are Associated with Lower Child Externalizing Behavior Problems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(9), pages 1-14, April.
    16. Lisa Dandolo & Klaus Telkmann & Christina Hartig & Sophie Horstmann & Sara Pedron & Lars Schwettmann & Peter Selsam & Alexandra Schneider & Gabriele Bolte & on behalf of the INGER Study Group, 2023. "Do Multiple Sex/Gender Dimensions Play a Role in the Association of Green Space and Self-Rated Health? Model-Based Recursive Partitioning Results from the KORA INGER Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(7), pages 1-23, March.
    17. Jason Corburn, 2017. "Urban Place and Health Equity: Critical Issues and Practices," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-10, January.
    18. Chenying Li & Tiantian Zhang & Xi Wang & Zefeng Lian, 2022. "Site Selection of Urban Parks Based on Fuzzy-Analytic Hierarchy Process (F-AHP): A Case Study of Nanjing, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-27, October.
    19. Asier Anabitarte & Mikel Subiza-Pérez & Jesús Ibarluzea & Kepa Azkona & Gonzalo García-Baquero & Carme Miralles-Guasch & Jon Irazusta & Kristina W. Whitworth & Guillem Vich & Aitana Lertxundi, 2020. "Testing the Multiple Pathways of Residential Greenness to Pregnancy Outcomes Model in a Sample of Pregnant Women in the Metropolitan Area of Donostia-San Sebastián," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-23, June.
    20. Katrina A. Lambert & Gayan Bowatte & Rachel Tham & Caroline J. Lodge & Luke A. Prendergast & Joachim Heinrich & Michael J. Abramson & Shyamali C. Dharmage & Bircan Erbas, 2018. "Greenspace and Atopic Sensitization in Children and Adolescents—A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-12, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:3:p:235-:d:91636. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.