Contact with nature is key to mental health, but there is little research on its impact in early childhood and now a study has shown that children who live from birth in areas where they are exposed to natural spaces, such as forests , parks or private gardens could have fewer emotional problems between the ages of 2 and 5.
The research has been conducted by scientists from the ECHO (Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes) program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including Nissa Towe-Goodman, a scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Institute of Child Development at UNC, who have evaluated Parents’ responses about their children’s behavior from ages 2 to 11. The researchers correlated this data with the address where the family lived at the child’s birth and with satellite data that measures the density of living vegetation around their homes.
The study results have been published in JAMA Network Open and show that higher levels of green spaces within a radius of up to three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) from children’s residence are associated with fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression among 2 and 5 years old. This relationship held even after considering factors such as the sex of the child, the parents’ education and age at birth, as well as the socioeconomic vulnerability of the neighborhood.
However, there was no significant association between green space around the home and mental health symptoms in later years of childhood, from ages 6 to 11, when children spend more time in school. “Our study supports existing evidence that being in nature benefits children and suggests that early childhood is a critical period for exposure to green spaces,” says Towe-Goodman.
Exposure to green spaces reduces childhood anxiety
Until now, most research has been limited to studying one or a few cities at a time and has focused on adult health. Because the ECHO Program collects data nationally, researchers were able to analyze information from children in 199 counties in 41 US states, exploring the relationship between exposure to green spaces from birth and symptoms of anxiety, depression, aggression and others during early or middle childhood.
The study included children born between 2007 and 2013, whose parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist, a common survey to assess children’s emotional and behavioral symptoms. The 2,103 children studied were between 2 and 11 years old.
“Being in nature benefits children and suggests that early childhood is a critical period for exposure to green spaces”
Exposure to green spaces was measured using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a widely used indicator to quantify vegetation density using sensors. NDVI values range from -1 to 1, with high values (approximately 0.6 to 0.9) being indicative of dense vegetation, such as forests, while values close to zero represent areas without living vegetation.
“In the future, researchers could investigate what types of nature experiences are related to children’s early mental health,” Towe-Goodman proposes. “In addition, we should study how the creation or preservation of natural areas around homes and schools could influence children’s mental health,” concludes the scientist.
