Department of Urban and Rural Planning, School of Architecture, Southwest Jiaotong University, No. 999, Xi'an Road, Pidu District, Chengdu, China.
School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, No 8. Donghu Road, Wuhan, China.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Oct 11;24(1):2788. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-20269-3.
While the mental health benefits of urban green spaces (UGS) are increasingly recognized, less is known about how these relationships vary for socially marginalized groups. This study investigates the association between UGS and mental health among rural-to-urban migrants in Wuhan, China, examining the roles of the quality and quantity of UGS and the intermediary function of perceived everyday discrimination.
We used Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling to analyze data from a social survey, integrating with park-related social media ratings, street view imagery, and geospatial datasets to characterize UGS features and contextual factors, therefore verifying our hypotheses.
Both the quality and quantity of UGS significantly influence migrants' mental health, with quantity demonstrating a stronger overall correlation, challenging common assumptions. Notably, social media scores of parks, reflecting positive user experiences, were found to improve mental health. However, the relationship with UGS quantity was nuanced: higher park density and green view index were positively associated with mental health, while increased park area proportion demonstrated the opposite effect. Furthermore, perceived discrimination emerged as a critical socio-psychological factor and operated spatial heterogeneity. In inner-city areas, neighborhoods characterized by plaza-type parks and high park density were associated with reduced perceived discrimination among migrants, showing active social functions of UGS. However, larger park areas are paradoxically correlated with increased discrimination experiences and poorer mental health. Interestingly, this mediatory effect of perceived discrimination was less pronounced in inner-suburban areas. These findings suggest a nuanced role of UGS in the lives of migrants. While certain aspects of UGS quantity, such as plentiful smaller parks, can facilitate social inclusion and improve mental health, others, like overlarge parks, may unintentionally contribute to feelings of marginalization and negatively impact mental health.
Our findings highlight the crucial need for context-sensitive green space planning that balances quality and quantity while mitigating discriminatory experiences to improve the mental health of rural-to-urban migrants.
虽然城市绿地（UGS）对心理健康的益处已逐渐得到认可，但对于社会边缘群体的这些关系如何变化知之甚少。本研究调查了中国武汉农村到城市移民的 UGS 与心理健康之间的关系，检验了 UGS 质量和数量以及感知日常歧视的中介作用。
我们使用多层次结构方程模型来分析来自社会调查的数据，同时整合了与公园相关的社交媒体评分、街景图像和地理空间数据集，以描述 UGS 特征和背景因素，从而验证我们的假设。
UGS 的质量和数量都对移民的心理健康有显著影响，其中数量的相关性更强，这挑战了常见的假设。值得注意的是，公园的社交媒体评分反映了积极的用户体验，被发现可以改善心理健康。然而，与 UGS 数量的关系是复杂的：较高的公园密度和绿色景观指数与心理健康呈正相关，而增加公园面积比例则相反。此外，感知歧视是一个关键的社会心理因素，具有空间异质性。在市中心地区，具有广场式公园和高公园密度的街区与移民的感知歧视减少有关，展示了 UGS 的积极社会功能。然而，较大的公园面积却与增加的歧视体验和较差的心理健康相关。有趣的是，这种感知歧视的中介效应在内城区不太明显。这些发现表明 UGS 在移民生活中扮演着复杂的角色。虽然 UGS 数量的某些方面，如大量较小的公园，可以促进社会包容和改善心理健康，但其他方面，如过大的公园，可能会无意中导致边缘化的感觉，并对心理健康产生负面影响。
我们的研究结果强调了需要进行敏感的绿色空间规划，平衡质量和数量，同时减轻歧视体验，以改善农村到城市移民的心理健康。
