Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2024 Jun;59(6):947-956. doi: 10.1007/s00127-023-02575-0. Epub 2023 Oct 14.
There is a growing interest in assessing the benefits of exposure to urban greenspace on mental health due to the increased urbanization of youth and concerns for their mental health. We investigated the prospective associations of residential greenspace in childhood and mental health in adolescence. Use of a well-characterized birth cohort permitted adjustment for a range of potential confounding factors including family and neighborhood characteristics in addition to prior mental health problems, and exploration of moderation effects by sex and family socioeconomic status.
We analyzed longitudinal data collected from 742 urban-dwelling participants of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Children Development. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within 250, 500, and 1000 m buffer zones surrounding the home residence was used to indicate childhood exposure to greenspace. Six self-reported mental health problems at 15/17 years were examined using the Mental Health and Social Inadaptation questionnaire: inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, conduct, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
Childhood urban greenspace was associated with lower inattention problems in both females and males. We observed a 0.14 reduced standard deviation (SD) (β = - 0.14, SE = 0.05, p < 0.01) in relation to an interquartile range (IQR) increase of NDVI (0.15) at the 250 m buffer zone, and similar results were found in 500 m and 1000 m buffer zones. These associations only slightly attenuated after adjustment for individual (sex, childhood mental health), family (family SES, maternal age at birth, parental mental health, family composition), and neighborhood (material and social deprivation) characteristics (β = - 0.13, SE = 0.06, p = 0.03). No association was found for other mental health problems, and no moderation associations of sex or family socioeconomic status were observed.
These findings suggest that increasing residential greenspace in cities may be associated with modest benefits in attentional capacities in youth, necessitating further research to elucidate the underlying mechanisms.
由于青年城市化程度的提高以及对其心理健康的担忧，人们越来越关注接触城市绿地对心理健康的益处。我们研究了儿童时期居住绿地与青少年心理健康之间的前瞻性关联。利用一个特征良好的出生队列，除了先前的心理健康问题外，还可以调整一系列潜在的混杂因素，包括家庭和邻里特征，并通过性别和家庭社会经济地位来探索调节作用。
我们分析了来自魁北克儿童发展纵向研究的 742 名城市居民参与者的纵向数据。使用归一化差异植被指数（NDVI）来表示儿童时期接触绿地，该指数是家庭居住周围 250、500 和 1000 米缓冲区的指标。使用心理健康和社会适应不良问卷（注意力不集中、多动/冲动、行为、抑郁、焦虑和自杀意念）在 15/17 岁时检查了 6 项自我报告的心理健康问题。
在女性和男性中，儿童时期的城市绿地与注意力不集中问题的发生率较低有关。我们观察到，在 250 米缓冲区中，NDVI（0.15）的一个四分位距（IQR）增加与一个标准差（SD）（β=-0.14，SE=0.05，p<0.01）的减少相关，在 500 米和 1000 米缓冲区中也得到了类似的结果。在调整个体（性别、儿童期心理健康）、家庭（家庭社会经济地位、母亲出生年龄、父母心理健康、家庭构成）和邻里（物质和社会剥夺）特征（β=-0.13，SE=0.06，p=0.03）后，这些关联略有减弱。对于其他心理健康问题没有发现关联，也没有观察到性别或家庭社会经济地位的调节关联。
这些发现表明，增加城市居住绿地可能与青少年注意力能力的适度提高有关，需要进一步研究阐明潜在的机制。
