Cumulative Greenspace Exposure on Young Adult’s Mental Health and SocioeconomicStatus Moderators

Abstract

The environmental context in which a person lives serves as a background factor that can trigger, reduce, or amplify the risk of suffering from a mental disorder. Poor mental health in young people can lead to further health concerns like lower educational achievements, substance abuse, and poor reproductive and sexual health. With more urbanisation on the rise, there is less access to greenspaces. This serves as a problem when there is increasing research stating that natural environments, like greenspaces, highly benefit a person’s mental wellbeing. This research examines how proximity to greenspace during adolescence affects the mental health of young adults. Moreover, we will be studying how socioeconomic status (SES) acts as a moderator for mental health as the individual moves from their family SES at age 11 to their own SES at age 17 or 20. We found that more exposure to green vegetation is important to the mental well-being of individuals. There was no moderating factor between childhood greenspace exposure and young adult mental health across any level of SES–both parental and adolescence SES. Regardless of the results from this analysis, greenspace still remains important to the well-being of individuals, society and our planet. We should still continue to create policies and interventions toward preserving greenspaces amid urbanisation.