Playgrounds are for children: Investigating developmentally-specific “Green Space” and child mental health

Abstract

“Green space” effects on health have been amply demonstrated, but whether specific features of green space exert differential effects remains unknown. Driven by developmental psychology theory highlighting the importance of play for young children, we investigated the association between parks with playgrounds, as a subtype of “green space”, and young child mental health. After adjusting for individual race, sex, income, and cumulative risk as well as neighborhood disadvantage, we find that children (N ​= ​95) living near parks with playgrounds have better mental health than those near parks without playgrounds (b ​= ​−1.22 (95% CI: −3.82–1.38, p ​= ​0.36) Child Behavior Checklist scale). While not statistically significant, the observed difference, which is equivalent to 11% of the baseline mean score, is meaningful. Our results, while only suggestive, indicate that moving beyond “green space” to investigate developmentally-specific features may be worthwhile.

Keywords

• Green space
• Playgrounds
• Parks
• Early childhood
• Mental health