ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain.
Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Environ Res. 2019 Jan;168:171-177. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2018.09.033. Epub 2018 Oct 3.
A growing body of evidence has associated contact with green spaces with improved mental health and wellbeing in adults. Social contacts has been postulated as a potential mechanism underlying such effects. However, the available evidence on the association between green spaces and self-satisfaction and also the mediatory role of social contacts in health benefits of green spaces in adolescents is still very scarce. We aimed to evaluate the association of time spent in different types of green spaces with self-satisfaction and social contacts in adolescents. We also investigated the mediatory role of social contacts in the association of green space use and self-satisfaction.
This cross-sectional study was based on a population-representative sample of 10,856 adolescents (10-18 years old) living in urban and rural districts across 30 provinces of Iran (2015). Data on the time spent in green spaces (separately for parks, forests and private gardens), self-satisfaction, social contacts (number of friends and time spent with friends), and socio-demographic characteristics were obtained through questionnaires from parents and children. Logistic mixed effects models with recruitment centre as the random effect were developed to estimate associations adjusted for relevant covariates.
More time spent in green spaces was associated with improved self-satisfaction and social contacts. While for the self-satisfaction, there was no indication for effect modification by sex, socioeconomic status (SES), and urbanity, we observed stronger associations for older adolescents (> 14 years old). For social contacts, we found indications for stronger associations for boys, older adolescents, those residing in rural areas, and those from lowest and highest SES groups. Social contacts could explain more than half of the association between green spaces use and self-satisfaction.
Our observed enhanced self-satisfaction and social contacts associated with more time spent in green spaces could provide policymakers with measures to improve mental wellbeing of adolescents. Further studies are required to replicate our findings in other populations with different climates, cultures and lifestyles.
越来越多的证据表明，与绿色空间接触与成年人的心理健康和幸福感提高有关。社交接触被认为是这种影响的潜在机制。然而，关于绿色空间与自我满意度的关系以及绿色空间对青少年健康益处中社交接触的中介作用的证据仍然非常有限。我们旨在评估青少年在不同类型的绿色空间中花费的时间与自我满意度和社交接触的关系。我们还研究了社交接触在绿色空间使用与自我满意度之间的关联中的中介作用。
这项横断面研究基于伊朗 30 个省份的城市和农村地区 10856 名（10-18 岁）青少年的代表性样本。通过父母和孩子的问卷获取了在绿色空间（分别为公园、森林和私人花园）中花费的时间、自我满意度、社交接触（朋友数量和与朋友共度的时间）以及社会人口统计学特征的数据。采用以招募中心为随机效应的逻辑混合效应模型来估计调整相关协变量后的关联。
在绿色空间中花费更多的时间与自我满意度和社交接触的提高有关。虽然对于自我满意度，没有性别、社会经济地位（SES）和城市化程度的修饰作用，但我们观察到年龄较大的青少年（>14 岁）的关联更强。对于社交接触，我们发现男孩、年龄较大的青少年、居住在农村地区的青少年以及 SES 最低和最高组的青少年的关联更强。社交接触可以解释绿色空间使用与自我满意度之间关联的一半以上。
我们观察到的与在绿色空间中花费更多时间相关的增强的自我满意度和社交接触，可以为政策制定者提供改善青少年心理健康的措施。需要进一步的研究来在具有不同气候、文化和生活方式的其他人群中复制我们的发现。
