Neighbourhood natural space and the narrowing of socioeconomic inequality in children's social, emotional, and behavioural wellbeing

Paul Mccrorie,Jonathan R Olsen,Fiona M Caryl,Natalie Nicholls,Rich Mitchell

doi:10.1016/j.wss.2021.100051

Abstract

Introduction: The natural environment may benefit children's social, emotional and behavioural wellbeing, whilst offering a lever to narrow socioeconomic health inequalities. We investigated whether immediate neighbourhood natural space and private gardens were related to children's wellbeing outcomes and whether these relationships were moderated by household income.Methods: A nationally representative sample of 774 children (55% female, 10/11 years old) from the Studying Physical Activity in Children's Environments across Scotland study. Social, emotional and behavioural difficulty scores (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) represented wellbeing outcomes. Percentage of total natural space and private gardens within 100m of the child's residence was quantified using Ordnance Survey's MasterMap Topography Layer®. Linear regression, including interaction terms, explored the two main research questions.Results: A 10% increase in residential natural space was associated with a 0.08 reduction (-0.15, -0.01; 95%CI) in Emotional Problem scores and a 0.09 improvement (0.02, 0.16; 95%CI) in Prosocial Behaviour scores. Household income moderated the associations between % natural space and private gardens on Prosocial Behaviour scores: for natural space, there was a positive relationship for those in the lowest income quintile (0.25 (0.09, 0.41; 95%CI)) and a null relationship for those in the highest quintile (-0.07 (-0.16, 0.02; 95%CI)). For private garden space, there was a positive relationship for those in the highest quintile (0.15 (0.05, 0.26; 95%CI)) and negative relationship with those in the lowest quintile (-0.30 (-0.50, -0.07, 95%CI)).Conclusion: The natural environment could be a lever to benefit those from less advantaged backgrounds, particularly the development of prosocial behaviours.

Highlights

The natural environment may benefit children’s social, emotional and behavioural wellbeing, whilst offering a lever to narrow socioeconomic health inequalities
The weighting procedure was largely successful across all variables, with only minor differences compared to the entire Growing up in Scotland (GUS) Sweep 8 sample (See Supplementary Table 2)
Our study examined the potential impact of the immediate neigh bourhood natural space on social, emotional and behavioural wellbeing in older children as measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Ques tionnaire (SDQ)

Summary

Introduction

The natural environment may benefit children’s social, emotional and behavioural wellbeing, whilst offering a lever to narrow socioeconomic health inequalities. Multiple literature reviews have evaluated the impacts and associa tions of the natural environment on children and young people’s health and wellbeing (Norwood et al, 2019; Mygind et al, 2019; Tillmann et al, 2018; Twohig-Bennett & Jones, 2018). Spend time in, natural space have fewer reported social, emotional, and behavioural problems (Tillmann et al, 2018). Nature close to home has been associated with lower emotional symptom scores in children aged 7-10 years (Amoly et al, 2014), and improved prosocial behaviours in young children aged 4-6 years old (Richardson et al, 2017). The recent review by Norwood and colleagues (2019) supports the position that homes with higher surrounding greenness may be capable of promoting improved attention in young people

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