Childhood environments and mental health

Although living in urban environments is associated with increased risk of developing mental illnesses, there is a lack of longitudinal research on this phenomenon.

To explore whether and how natural surroundings during childhood are associated with mental health, researchers examined the psychological records of 943,027 people who were born in Denmark between 1985 and 2003 and still living in the country by their 10th birthday. The authors compared the records with satellite images from 1985 to 2013 that displayed the amount of vegetation index within a 210 × 210 m square around each person’s place of residence (∼1 million people) from birth to the age of 10.

Compared with children who lived in areas surrounded by the greatest amount of vegetation, children who lived in areas surrounded by the least vegetation had up to 55% increased risk of developing a psychiatric disorder. The association remained even after adjusting for urbanization, socioeconomic factors, parental history of mental illness, and parental age. Stronger association of cumulative green space presence during childhood compared with single-year green space presence suggests that presence throughout childhood is important.

Intellectual disabilities and schizoaffective disorder, however, were not positively associated with lack of access to nature. Approximately 50% of all psychiatric disorders were diagnosed in adulthood.

The findings suggest that integrating natural environments into urban areas, especially near schools and other places where children congregate, may improve the mental health of urban residents.

https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/02/26/1807504116