{"title":"Is greenspace in the eye of the beholder? Exploring perceived and objective greenspace exposure effects on mental health","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2024.102468","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>This study explores the relationship between greenspace and perceived stress, anxiety, and depression, and specifically how perceived and objective greenspace exposure relate to these outcomes. It also explores whether race and socioeconomic status (SES) influence perceived and objective greenspace exposure.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We used structural equation models (SEMs) to assess the combined impacts of perceived greenspace (a latent construct that included greenspace abundance, visibility, access, usage, quality) and objective greenspace (NDVI within a 300-m buffer of residence) exposures on mental health outcomes (perceived stress, anxiety, and depression), adjusted for SES (using a latent variable that combined income, education, employment), race, ethnicity, age, and cohabiting status from a cross-sectional survey on greenspace and mental health in Denver, CO that ran from November 2019 to April 2021. We compared the strength of pathways between perceived and objective greenspace measures and mental health outcomes, as well as those between SES/race/ethnicity and greenspace measures.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Perceived greenspace exposure was directly associated with reduced anxiety; objective greenspace was only indirectly associated with reduced anxiety, through perceived greenspace. Perceived—but not objective—greenspace exposure was associated with lower depression with borderline statistical significance. SES was statistically significantly associated with higher objective greenspace (a direct impact) and perceived greenspace (direct impact and indirect impact mediated by objective greenspace), which suggests that some, but not all, of differential perceptions of greenspace exposure by SES are due to differential levels of objective greenspace exposure by SES.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Our study shows that perceived greenspace exposure may be an integral part of how objective greenspace exposure confers mental health benefits, particularly anxiety. SES may also play a role not just in influencing objective greenspace exposure, but also in shaping peoples’ perceptions of greenspace, which are unmeasured in most objective greenspace exposure measures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48439,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Environmental Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027249442400241X","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background
This study explores the relationship between greenspace and perceived stress, anxiety, and depression, and specifically how perceived and objective greenspace exposure relate to these outcomes. It also explores whether race and socioeconomic status (SES) influence perceived and objective greenspace exposure.
Methods
We used structural equation models (SEMs) to assess the combined impacts of perceived greenspace (a latent construct that included greenspace abundance, visibility, access, usage, quality) and objective greenspace (NDVI within a 300-m buffer of residence) exposures on mental health outcomes (perceived stress, anxiety, and depression), adjusted for SES (using a latent variable that combined income, education, employment), race, ethnicity, age, and cohabiting status from a cross-sectional survey on greenspace and mental health in Denver, CO that ran from November 2019 to April 2021. We compared the strength of pathways between perceived and objective greenspace measures and mental health outcomes, as well as those between SES/race/ethnicity and greenspace measures.
Results
Perceived greenspace exposure was directly associated with reduced anxiety; objective greenspace was only indirectly associated with reduced anxiety, through perceived greenspace. Perceived—but not objective—greenspace exposure was associated with lower depression with borderline statistical significance. SES was statistically significantly associated with higher objective greenspace (a direct impact) and perceived greenspace (direct impact and indirect impact mediated by objective greenspace), which suggests that some, but not all, of differential perceptions of greenspace exposure by SES are due to differential levels of objective greenspace exposure by SES.
Conclusion
Our study shows that perceived greenspace exposure may be an integral part of how objective greenspace exposure confers mental health benefits, particularly anxiety. SES may also play a role not just in influencing objective greenspace exposure, but also in shaping peoples’ perceptions of greenspace, which are unmeasured in most objective greenspace exposure measures.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Environmental Psychology is the premier journal in the field, serving individuals in a wide range of disciplines who have an interest in the scientific study of the transactions and interrelationships between people and their surroundings (including built, social, natural and virtual environments, the use and abuse of nature and natural resources, and sustainability-related behavior). The journal publishes internationally contributed empirical studies and reviews of research on these topics that advance new insights. As an important forum for the field, the journal publishes some of the most influential papers in the discipline that reflect the scientific development of environmental psychology. Contributions on theoretical, methodological, and practical aspects of all human-environment interactions are welcome, along with innovative or interdisciplinary approaches that have a psychological emphasis. Research areas include: •Psychological and behavioral aspects of people and nature •Cognitive mapping, spatial cognition and wayfinding •Ecological consequences of human actions •Theories of place, place attachment, and place identity •Environmental risks and hazards: perception, behavior, and management •Perception and evaluation of buildings and natural landscapes •Effects of physical and natural settings on human cognition and health •Theories of proenvironmental behavior, norms, attitudes, and personality •Psychology of sustainability and climate change •Psychological aspects of resource management and crises •Social use of space: crowding, privacy, territoriality, personal space •Design of, and experiences related to, the physical aspects of workplaces, schools, residences, public buildings and public space