Abstract
BackgroundPositive emotional well-being is fundamentally important to general health status, and is linked to many favorable health outcomes. There is societal interest in understanding determinants of emotional well-being in adolescence, and the natural environment represents one potential determinant. Psychological and experimental research have each shown links between exposure to nature and both stress reduction and attention restoration. Some population studies have suggested positive effects of green space on various indicators of health. However, there are limited large-scale epidemiological studies assessing this relationship, specifically for populations of young people and in the Canadian context. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between exposure to public natural space and positive emotional well-being among young adolescent Canadians.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was based upon the Canadian 2009/10 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey with linked geographic information system (GIS) data. Following exclusions, the sample included 17 249 (grades 6 to 10, mostly ages 11 to 16) students from 317 schools. Features of the natural environment were extracted using GIS within a 5 km radius circular buffer surrounding each school. Multilevel logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between the presence of public natural space (features include green and blue spaces such as parks, wooded areas, and water bodies) and students’ reports of positive emotional well-being, while controlling for salient covariates and the clustered nature of the data.ResultsOver half of Canadian youth reported positive emotional well-being (58.5% among boys and 51.6% among girls). Relationships between measures of natural space and positive emotional well-being were weak and lacked consistency overall, but modest protective effects were observed in small cities. Positive emotional well-being was more strongly associated with other factors including demographic characteristics, family affluence, and perceptions of neighbourhood surroundings.ConclusionExposure to natural space in youth’s immediate living environment may not be a leading determinant of their emotional well-being. The relationship between natural space and positive emotional well-being may be context specific, and thus different for Canadian youth compared to adult populations and those studied in other nations. Factors of the individual context were stronger potential determinants.
Highlights
Positive emotional well-being is fundamentally important to general health status, and is linked to many favorable health outcomes
We hoped to inform decision makers on the priority of public natural space in societal efforts to promote positive emotional well-being among young people. This cross-sectional study was based on Canadian records from the 2009/10 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Survey which collected information on demographic, behavioral, and contextual factors that influence the health of young people [41]
27.2% of the area within the 5 km buffers was comprised of nat29.0 ural space (17.4% green space and 9.8% blue space). 34.8 As seen in Table 3, a slightly higher proportion of boys 36.2 reported positive emotional well-being compared to girls (58.5% versus 51.6%)
Summary
Positive emotional well-being is fundamentally important to general health status, and is linked to many favorable health outcomes. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between exposure to public natural space and positive emotional well-being among young adolescent Canadians. Positive emotional well-being is defined as an awareness of one’s well-being with a positive outlook on life [1] It is an important aspect of overall health. Positive emotional well-being contributes to the development of intrapersonal and interpersonal relationships [2]. It is associated with higher academic and vocational performance [3], and mediates the impact of stressful life events [4] and problem behaviors [1]. It is important to understand emotional well-being during critical developmental stages, such as adolescence
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