IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i2p535-d478150.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Schoolyard Greening on Children’s Physical Activity and Socioemotional Health: A Systematic Review of Experimental Studies

Author

Listed:
  • Jean C. Bikomeye

    (PhD Program in Public and Community Health, Institute for Health and Equity, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA)

  • Joanna Balza

    (PhD Program in Public and Community Health, Institute for Health and Equity, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA)

  • Kirsten M. Beyer

    (PhD Program in Public and Community Health, Institute for Health and Equity, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA
    Division of Epidemiology, Institute for Health and Equity, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA)

Abstract

Access to green schoolyards (schoolyards designed with greenery and natural elements to create a park-like environment, as opposed to asphalt-based playgrounds) are associated with many benefits for students, including improvements in physical and mental health. While many studies examining these associations are cross-sectional, some feature experimental designs that offer the possibility of causal inference. In this review, we looked at experimental studies that examine the impact of schoolyard greening on measures of physical activity and socioemotional health in children. Four electronic databases (Ovid Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus and Greenfile) were searched, and from 1843 articles retrieved, 6 articles met the inclusion criteria. Examination of the eligible studies revealed a general consensus on the positive impact of schoolyard greening on both physical activity and socioemotional health outcomes for students, suggesting that schoolyard greening is a viable intervention in reducing the health equity gaps and improving children’s health regardless of their racial or ethnic backgrounds or residential neighborhood socioeconomic status. Further experimental research on this topic should elucidate how educators, administrators, policy makers, and other stakeholders can harness the benefits of schoolyard greening to improve the health and well-being of children in their communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean C. Bikomeye & Joanna Balza & Kirsten M. Beyer, 2021. "The Impact of Schoolyard Greening on Children’s Physical Activity and Socioemotional Health: A Systematic Review of Experimental Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-20, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:2:p:535-:d:478150
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/2/535/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/2/535/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kirsten M. M. Beyer & Andrea Kaltenbach & Aniko Szabo & Sandra Bogar & F. Javier Nieto & Kristen M. Malecki, 2014. "Exposure to Neighborhood Green Space and Mental Health: Evidence from the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Brink, L.A. & Nigg, C.R. & Lampe, S.M.R. & Kingston, B.A. & Mootz, A.L. & Van Vliet, W., 2010. "Influence of schoolyard renovations on children's physical activity: The learning landscapes program," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(9), pages 1672-1678.
    3. Peter Wallner & Michael Kundi & Arne Arnberger & Renate Eder & Brigitte Allex & Lisbeth Weitensfelder & Hans-Peter Hutter, 2018. "Reloading Pupils’ Batteries: Impact of Green Spaces on Cognition and Wellbeing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-11, June.
    4. Jenny J. Roe & Catharine Ward Thompson & Peter A. Aspinall & Mark J. Brewer & Elizabeth I. Duff & David Miller & Richard Mitchell & Angela Clow, 2013. "Green Space and Stress: Evidence from Cortisol Measures in Deprived Urban Communities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-18, September.
    5. Kuo, F.E. & Faber Taylor, A., 2004. "A potential natural treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Evidence from a national study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(9), pages 1580-1586.
    6. Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris & Lené Levy-Storms & Lin Chen & Madeline Brozen, 2016. "Parks for an Aging Population: Needs and Preferences of Low-Income Seniors in Los Angeles," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 82(3), pages 236-251, July.
    7. David Moher & Alessandro Liberati & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Douglas G Altman & The PRISMA Group, 2009. "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    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. Jean C. Bikomeye & Caitlin S. Rublee & Kirsten M. M. Beyer, 2021. "Positive Externalities of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation for Human Health: A Review and Conceptual Framework for Public Health Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-29, March.
    2. Jean C. Bikomeye & Andreas M. Beyer & Jamila L. Kwarteng & Kirsten M. M. Beyer, 2022. "Greenspace, Inflammation, Cardiovascular Health, and Cancer: A Review and Conceptual Framework for Greenspace in Cardio-Oncology Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-22, February.
    3. Zhenduo Liu & Hui Sun & Jian Zhang & Jingfei Yan, 2023. "Status, Hotspots, and Future Trends: Bibliometric Analysis of Research on the Impact of the Built Environment on Children and Adolescents’ Physical Activity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-17, January.
    4. Ina Olmer Specht & Sofus Christian Larsen & Jeanett Friis Rohde & Jane Nautrup Østergaard & Berit Lilienthal Heitmann, 2022. "Comparison of Motor Difficulties Measured in the First Year of School among Children Who Attended Rural Outdoor or Urban Conventional Kindergartens," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-10, October.
    5. Cristina Ayala-Azcarraga & Daniel Diaz & Tania Fernandez & Fernando Cordova-Tapia & Luis Zambrano, 2023. "Uneven Distribution of Urban Green Spaces in Relation to Marginalization in Mexico City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-14, August.
    6. Jean C. Bikomeye & Sima Namin & Chima Anyanwu & Caitlin S. Rublee & Jamie Ferschinger & Ken Leinbach & Patricia Lindquist & August Hoppe & Lawrence Hoffman & Justin Hegarty & Dwayne Sperber & Kirsten , 2021. "Resilience and Equity in a Time of Crises: Investing in Public Urban Greenspace Is Now More Essential Than Ever in the US and Beyond," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-39, August.

    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. Jean C. Bikomeye & Caitlin S. Rublee & Kirsten M. M. Beyer, 2021. "Positive Externalities of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation for Human Health: A Review and Conceptual Framework for Public Health Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-29, March.
    2. Jean C. Bikomeye & Sima Namin & Chima Anyanwu & Caitlin S. Rublee & Jamie Ferschinger & Ken Leinbach & Patricia Lindquist & August Hoppe & Lawrence Hoffman & Justin Hegarty & Dwayne Sperber & Kirsten , 2021. "Resilience and Equity in a Time of Crises: Investing in Public Urban Greenspace Is Now More Essential Than Ever in the US and Beyond," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-39, August.
    3. Lucia Mason & Lucia Manzione & Angelica Ronconi & Francesca Pazzaglia, 2022. "Lessons in a Green School Environment and in the Classroom: Effects on Students’ Cognitive Functioning and Affect," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Liwen Li & Klaus W. Lange, 2023. "Assessing the Relationship between Urban Blue-Green Infrastructure and Stress Resilience in Real Settings: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-28, June.
    5. Kirsten M. M. Beyer & Elizabeth F. Heller & Jessica M. Bizub & Amy J. Kistner & Aniko Szabo & Erin E. Shawgo & Corey J. Zetts, 2015. "More than a Pretty Place: Assessing the Impact of Environmental Education on Children’s Knowledge and Attitudes about Outdoor Play in Nature," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, February.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Haifeng Li & Wenbo Chen & Wei He, 2015. "Planning of Green Space Ecological Network in Urban Areas: An Example of Nanchang, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-16, October.
    9. Mardelle Shepley & Naomi Sachs & Hessam Sadatsafavi & Christine Fournier & Kati Peditto, 2019. "The Impact of Green Space on Violent Crime in Urban Environments: An Evidence Synthesis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-19, December.
    10. Yannick Klein & Petra Lindfors & Walter Osika & Linda L. Magnusson Hanson & Cecilia U. D. Stenfors, 2022. "Residential Greenspace Is Associated with Lower Levels of Depressive and Burnout Symptoms, and Higher Levels of Life Satisfaction: A Nationwide Population-Based Study in Sweden," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-19, May.
    11. Hector A. Olvera-Alvarez & Matthew H. E. M. Browning & Andreas M. Neophytou & Gregory N. Bratman, 2021. "Associations of Residential Brownness and Greenness with Fasting Glucose in Young Healthy Adults Living in the Desert," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-16, January.
    12. Viniece Jennings & Lincoln Larson & Jessica Yun, 2016. "Advancing Sustainability through Urban Green Space: Cultural Ecosystem Services, Equity, and Social Determinants of Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-15, February.
    13. Vanessa Natalie Frey & Patrick Benjamin Langthaler & Martin Josef Huf & Günter Gruber & Thomas Prinz & Ludmilla Kedenko & Bernhard Iglseder & Bernhard Paulweber & Eugen Trinka, 2024. "Stress and the City: Mental Health in Urbanized vs. Rural Areas in Salzburg, Austria," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(11), pages 1-20, October.
    14. Liqing Zhang & Puay Yok Tan, 2019. "Associations between Urban Green Spaces and Health are Dependent on the Analytical Scale and How Urban Green Spaces are Measured," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-18, February.
    15. Charlotte Wendelboe-Nelson & Sarah Kelly & Marion Kennedy & John W. Cherrie, 2019. "A Scoping Review Mapping Research on Green Space and Associated Mental Health Benefits," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-49, June.
    16. Kaili Chen & Tianzheng Zhang & Fangyuan Liu & Yingjie Zhang & Yan Song, 2021. "How Does Urban Green Space Impact Residents’ Mental Health: A Literature Review of Mediators," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-27, November.
    17. Viniece Jennings & Cassandra Johnson Gaither, 2015. "Approaching Environmental Health Disparities and Green Spaces: An Ecosystem Services Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, February.
    18. Jeremy Mennis & Xiaojiang Li & Mahbubur Meenar & J. Douglas Coatsworth & Thomas P. McKeon & Michael J. Mason, 2021. "Residential Greenspace and Urban Adolescent Substance Use: Exploring Interactive Effects with Peer Network Health, Sex, and Executive Function," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-15, February.
    19. Maddison Hood & Oliver Baumann, 2024. "Could Nature Contribute to the Management of ADHD in Children? A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(6), pages 1-12, June.
    20. Dongying Li & Tess Menotti & Yizhen Ding & Nancy M. Wells, 2021. "Life Course Nature Exposure and Mental Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Future Directions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-28, May.

    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:18:y:2021:i:2:p:535-:d:478150. 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.