Residential Greenspace and Urban Adolescent Substance Use: Exploring Interactive Effects with Peer Network Health, Sex, and Executive Function.

Jeremy Mennis,J Douglas Coatsworth,Michael J Mason,Thomas P Mckeon,Mahbubur Meenar,Xiaojiang Li

doi:10.3390/ijerph18041611

Abstract

While urban greenspace is increasingly recognized as important to mental health, its role in substance use is understudied. This exploratory study investigates the interaction of greenspace with peer network health, sex, and executive function (EF) in models of substance use among a sample of disadvantaged, urban youth. Adolescents and their parents were recruited from a hospital in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. Residential greenspace at the streetscape level was derived from analysis of Google Street View imagery. Logistic regression models were used to test the moderating effect of greenspace on the association between peer network health and substance use, as well as additional moderating effects of sex and EF. The significant negative association of peer network health with substance use occurred only among youth residing in high greenspace environments, a moderating effect which was stronger among youth with high EF deficit. The moderating effect of greenspace did not differ between girls and boys. Greenspace may play an important role in moderating peer influences on substance use among disadvantaged, urban adolescents, and such moderation may differ according to an individual’s level of EF. This research provides evidence of differences in environmental susceptibility regarding contextual mechanisms of substance use among youth, and it informs the development of targeted substance use interventions that leverage social and environmental influences on adolescent substance use.

Highlights

Exposure to urban greenspace, such as street trees, parks, open space, and other vegetated or “nature” areas, is increasingly recognized as an important factor in the mental health of city residents [1,2,3]
We examine the interaction of greenspace exposure with established social and psychological mechanisms which have been found to be related to adolescent substance use in previous research, peer influence [30] and executive function [31,32]
We investigate whether the interactive effects of greenspace and peer influence differs between girls and boys, as our previous research suggests that contextual effects on adolescent substance use varies by sex [30,39]

Summary

Introduction

Exposure to urban greenspace, such as street trees, parks, open space, and other vegetated or “nature” areas, is increasingly recognized as an important factor in the mental health of city residents [1,2,3]. Greenspaces have been associated with better selfreported health [4,5] and attention restoration [6,7]. Greenspace at, or nearby, an individual’s residential location may play a important role in mental health [16,17,18], for youth and disadvantaged populations, who may have limited mobility and for whom local environmental characteristics are especially important [4,10,16]. The strength of the association between greenspace and mental health may differ based on individual characteristics, such as sex, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status [19,20]. Differences in the effects of greenspace may be due to variation among

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