Scientists observe reduced emotional distress in children living near greenery

Recent research published in the JAMA Network Open reveals a connection between exposure to green spaces and the mental health of young children. Children who lived in areas rich in natural environments, such as forests and parks, from birth showed fewer emotional issues between the ages of 2 and 5. This finding adds a vital piece to the puzzle of childhood development, suggesting that natural surroundings may play a crucial role in fostering mental well-being in early life.

Previous studies have consistently highlighted the importance of nature for mental health across various age groups. However, there is limited research specifically focusing on the influence of natural environments on the mental health of very young children.

The National Institutes of Health’s Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program funded this study to fill this research gap. Researchers aimed to understand how living in green spaces from birth influences emotional issues such as anxiety and depression during the formative years of a child’s life.

The study analyzed parental reports on their children’s behavior, gathered from a large sample of children aged between 2 to 11 years, to understand the impact of early exposure to green spaces. The researchers linked these behavioral reports with the satellite data that quantified the vegetation density around the children’s residences at birth.

The sample included data from 2,103 children across 199 counties in 41 U.S. states, making the study broad and inclusive of various geographic and socio-economic backgrounds. The researchers used a detailed measure, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), to quantify the density of live vegetation near the children’s homes. This index helped in accurately assessing the level of green space exposure for each child from birth.

The researchers found that higher NDVI values, indicating denser greenery, were consistently linked with reduced emotional issues in young children. This relationship held true even after accounting for several potentially confounding factors, such as the child’s sex, the educational level of the parents, the child’s age at birth, and the socioeconomic status of the neighborhood.

“Our research supports existing evidence that being in nature is good for kids,” said Nissa Towe-Goodman, an ECHO researcher from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “It also suggests that the early childhood years are a crucial time for exposure to green spaces.”

Interestingly, the beneficial effects of green spaces were not observed in older children, aged 6 to 11, who likely spent more time away from their immediate residential surroundings, primarily at school. This shift suggests that the influence of green spaces on mental health may be particularly critical during the earlier years of a child’s life when they are more likely to spend time at home.

These findings underscore the potential of natural environments in supporting early childhood development and mental health. They suggest that ensuring access to green spaces could be a vital strategy in public health and urban planning, especially for enhancing the well-being of young children.

But the study, like all research, includes some limitations. For instance, the study did not account for the quality or accessibility of the green spaces, nor did it consider the effects of other environmental factors such as air pollution or neighborhood safety, which could also influence mental health.

Future research could explore these factors in detail, as well as the types of activities that children engage in while in green spaces. Studying how the creation or enhancement of natural spaces near homes and schools could benefit mental health would also be valuable.

“In the future, researchers could look into what kinds of experiences in nature are connected to kids’ early mental health,” Towe-Goodman said. “Also, we should study how creating or preserving natural areas around homes and schools might make a difference in a child’s mental health.”

The study, “Green Space and Internalizing or Externalizing Symptoms Among Children,” was authored by Nissa Towe-Goodman, Kristen L. McArthur, Michael Willoughby, Margaret M. Swingler, Cara Wychgram, Allan C. Just, Itai Kloog, Deborah H. Bennett, Daniel Berry, Marnie F. Hazlehurst, Peter James, Marcia Pescador Jimenez, Jin-Shei Lai, Leslie D. Leve, Lisa Gatzke-Kopp, Julie B. Schweitzer, Traci A. Bekelman, Catrina Calub, Susan Carnell, Sean Deoni, Viren D’Sa, Carrie Kelly, Daphne Koinis-Mitchell, Michael Petriello, Gita Thapaliya, Rosalind J. Wright, Xueying Zhang, Amii M. Kress, and the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program collaborators.