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

Thomas Astell-Burt,Xiaoqi Feng

doi:10.3390/ijerph14030235

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.

Highlights

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 [1,2,3]
The key finding from this study suggests that who the informant of the indicator of child mental wellbeing is can influence the results of an epidemiological study, despite the sample population and other characteristics being identical
The findings suggest that weaker and non-significant results may be found in studies focusing upon child and/or teacher-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)-derived outcomes, instead of those reported by parents

Summary

Introduction

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 [1,2,3]. Findings have been reasonably consistent irrespective of the measure of green space exposure, though fairly recent evidence suggests that different results may be contingent upon the way in which the health construct is measured. For example, the relationship between green space and mental wellbeing among adults. A fairly recent cross-sectional study examined the benefits of participating in physical activity within green spaces compared to physical activity in non-green locations [4]. The main outcome was mental wellbeing measured using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) [5] and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS) [6].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion