Increased urban greenspace in childhood associated with lower inattention deficit among adolescents

Despina Bolanis; Massimiliano Orri; Francis Vergunst; Samantha Bouchard; Éric Robitaille; Frederick Philippe; Isabelle Ouellet-Morin; Alain Girard; Vincent Paquin; Lise Gauvin; Sylvana Côté; Marie-Claude Geoffroy

doi:10.1007/s00127-023-02575-0

Increased urban greenspace in childhood associated with lower inattention deficit among adolescents

Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2023 Oct 14. doi: 10.1007/s00127-023-02575-0. Online ahead of print.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
² Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
³ Special Needs Education, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
⁴ Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
⁶ School of Criminology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
⁷ CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montreal, QC, Canada.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. marie-claude.geoffroy@mcgill.ca.

PMID: 37837487
DOI: 10.1007/s00127-023-02575-0

Abstract

Purpose: 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.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusion: 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.

Keywords: Greenspace exposure; Mental health; Residential; Youth.