Green spaces and cognitive development in primary schoolchildren

By P. Dadvand, M. Nieuwenhuijsen, M. Esnaola, J. Forns, X. Basagaña, M. Álvarez-Pedrerol, I. Rivas, Mónica López-Vicente, Montserrat de Castro Pascual, Jason G Su and 3 more. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015

825 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Significance Green spaces have a range of health benefits, but little is known in relation to cognitive development in children. This study, based on comprehensive characterization of outdoor surrounding greenness (at home, school, and during commuting) and repeated computerized cognitive tests in schoolchildren, found an improvement in cognitive development associated with surrounding greenness, particularly with greenness at schools. This association was partly mediated by reductions in air pollution. Our findings provide policymakers with evidence for feasible and achievable targeted interventions such as improving green spaces at schools to attain improvements in mental capital at population level. Exposure to green space has been associated with better physical and mental health. Although this exposure could also influence cognitive development in children, available epidemiological evidence on such an impact is scarce. This study aimed to assess the association between exposure to green space and measures of cognitive development in primary schoolchildren. This study was based on 2,593 schoolchildren in the second to fourth grades (7–10 y) of 36 primary schools in Barcelona, Spain (2012–2013). Cognitive development was assessed as 12-mo change in developmental trajectory of working memory, superior working memory, and inattentiveness by using four repeated (every 3 mo) computerized cognitive tests for each outcome. We assessed exposure to green space by characterizing outdoor surrounding greenness at home and school and during commuting by using high-resolution (5 m × 5 m) satellite data on greenness (normalized difference vegetation index). Multilevel modeling was used to estimate the associations between green spaces and cognitive development. We observed an enhanced 12-mo progress in working memory and superior working memory and a greater 12-mo reduction in inattentiveness associated with greenness within and surrounding school boundaries and with total surrounding greenness index (including greenness surrounding home, commuting route, and school). Adding a traffic-related air pollutant (elemental carbon) to models explained 20–65% of our estimated associations between school greenness and 12-mo cognitive development. Our study showed a beneficial association between exposure to green space and cognitive development among schoolchildren that was partly mediated by reduction in exposure to air pollution.

Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Sociology and Political Science, Speech and Hearing

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Citations in the corpus

Live green, think green: Sustainable school architecture and children’s environmental attitudes and behaviors (2017, background): “Research has also highlighted the natural environment as an effective learning arena for children (Dadvand et al., 2015; Hunter & Sonter, 2010; Wilson, 2012), and has discussed the adverse physical, social, and psychological effect of children's diminishing contact with nature (Kellert, 2005a;…”
Urban Green Space and Its Impact on Human Health (2018, methodology): “Surrounding greenness index: Average NDVI within 250 m of residence, 50 m of home-school commute, and 50 m of school [17]”
The health benefits of the great outdoors: A systematic review and meta-analysis of greenspace exposure and health outcomes (2018, neutral): “, 2015), the largest study using primary data collection presented results for 2593 primary schoolchildren (Dadvand et al., 2015), and the largest study using routinely collected data used 2011 UK census data with a population of> 63 million (Wheeler et al.”
From landscapes of utopia to the margins of the green urban life (2018, background): “Exposure to green space is also positively associated with children’s cognitive development (Dadvand et al. 2015), with the association being partially mediated by reductions in air pollution.”
Moving beyond the neighborhood: Daily exposure to nature and adolescents’ mood (2018, background): “For children and adolescents, contact with nature is also associated with less stress or emotional problems (Chawla et al., 2014; Feda et al., 2015; Flouri, Midouhas, & Joshi, 2014), along with enhanced working memory and reduced inattentiveness (Dadvand et al., 2015).”
The Effect of a Nature-Based Environmental Education Program on Children’s Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors: A Randomized Experiment with Primary Schools (2020, background): “Their collective findings suggest that exposure to nature improves children’s mental [19] and physical [20] health, ameliorates their stress levels [21], improves self-discipline [22], increases students’ motivation and engagement in school activities [23], enhances cooperative relations among peers”
Time spent outdoors during preschool: Links with children's cognitive and behavioral development (2017, neutral): “These measures correspond to the main outcomes examined in previous studies environments (Amoly et al., 2014; Berman et al., 2008; Dadvand et al., 2015) and are good indicators of cognitive and behavioral functioning.”
Extinction of experience: the loss of human–nature interactions (2016, background): “Regular contact with nature is also thought to be vital in ensuring proper social, emotional, cognitive, and motor development in children and youths (Keniger et al. 2013 ; Dadvand et al. 2015 ).”
Impact of Urban Nature on Executive Functioning in Early and Middle Childhood (2017, background): “A few previous studies have reported benefits to attention and EF for children not diagnosed with attention defi - cits (Dadvand et al., 2015; Faber Taylor et al., 2002; Grahn et al., 1997; Wells, 2000).”
Exploring pathways linking greenspace to health: Theoretical and methodological guidance (2017, background): “Residences and schools with higher surrounding greenness have also been observed to have lower traffic-related air pollution exposures (Dadvand et al., 2012b, 2015b).”