Nearby Nature

By N. Wells, G. W. Evans. 2003

784 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Identifying mechanisms that buffer children from life's stress and adversity is an important empirical and practical concern. This study focuses on nature as a buffer of life stress among rural children. To examine whether vegetation near the residential environment might buffer or moderate the impact of stressful life events on children's psychological well-being, data were collected from 337 rural children in Grades 3 through 5 (mean age=9.2 years). Dependent variables include a standard parent-reported measure of children's psychological distress and children's own ratings of global self-worth. In a rural setting, levels of nearby nature moderate the impact of stressful life events on the psychological well-being of children. Specifically, the impact of life stress was lower among children with high levels of nearby nature than among those with little nearby nature. Implications of these finding are discussed with respect to our understanding of resilience and protective mechanisms.

Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Plant Science, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f1b3b8b51f9b11295debee2b9b4956e24422e6f9

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In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

In Plant Science

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

Nature as children's space: A systematic review (2017, background): “Furthermore, children living in rural and lower socioeconomic status suburban communities were shown to have more access to experience nature independently and with a sense of safety (Leong et al., 2014; Wells & Evans, 2003; Zhang, Goodale, & Chen, 2014).”
Children’s Restorative Experiences and Self-Reported Environmental Behaviors (2015, methodology): “Children obtain psychological benefits from spending time in nature (Wells, 2000; Wells & Evans, 2003), and spending time in natural settings has been suggested as one of the reasons to behave in a more environmentally friendly way (Collado et al., 2013).”
Moving beyond the neighborhood: Daily exposure to nature and adolescents’ mood (2018, background): “…moods and emotions, provide a retreat from daily hassles, and reduce psychological and physiological stress in children and adolescents (Corraliza, Collado, & Bethelmy, 2012; Li & Sullivan, 2016; Markevych et al., 2014; Van den Berg, Maas, Verheij, & Groenewegen, 2010; Wells & Evans, 2003).”
Health benefits of nature experience: Psychological, social and cultural processes (2011, background): “in press), residents of urban public housing (Kuo and Sullivan 2001), children living in rural poverty (Wells and Evans 2003), urban office workers (Bringslimark et al.”
Young Children’s Contributions to Sustainability: The Influence of Nature Play on Curiosity, Executive Function Skills, Creative Thinking, and Resilience (2019, background): “stimuli, it is perhaps not surprising that nature experiences have been associated with improved physical health and development [3], psychological well-being [21], and cognitive functioning in children [22].”
Effects of an outdoor education intervention on the mental health of schoolchildren (2012, background): “…ability to apply self-disciplined behaviour (Taylor, Kuo, & Sullivan, 2002), better psychological well-being and capacity to cope with adversity (Wells & Evans, 2003) and a reduction in anti-social behaviour such as violence, bullying, vandalism and littering, as well as a reduction in…”