TY - JOUR
T1 - Associations of exposure to green space with problem behaviours in preschool-aged children
AU - Liao, Jiaqiang
AU - Yang, Shaoping
AU - Xia, Wei
AU - Peng, Anna
AU - Zhao, Jinzhu
AU - Li, Yuanyuan
AU - Zhang, Yimin
AU - Qian, Zhengmin
AU - Vaughn, Michael G.
AU - Schootman, Mario
AU - Zhang, Bin
AU - Xu, Shunqing
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91643207, 91743103, 81372959 and 21437002), the National Key Research and Development Plan (2016YFC0206700) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, HUST (grant numbers: 2016YXZD043, 2015ZDTD047 and 2018KFYXMPT00).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Background: Limited evidence is available regarding the association of green-space exposure with childhood behavioural development. This study aimed to investigate the associations of exposure to green space with multiple syndromes of behavioural development in preschool children. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Wuhan, China from April 2016 to June 2018. We recruited a sample of 6039 children aged 5-6 years from 17 kindergartens located in five urban districts of the city. We measured the greenness using average Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within a circular buffer area of 100 metres surrounding the central point of residences and kindergartens. We calculated the residence- kindergarten-weighted greenness by assuming that children spent 16 hours per day at home and 8 hours at kindergarten. The problem behaviours of children were evaluated at kindergarten using the Childhood Behavioral Checklist (CBCL) and standardized into problem behavioural T scores. Linear mixed-effect models and linear-regression models were used to estimate the associations. Results: We observed decreases in problem behaviours associated with kindergarten and residence-kindergarten-weighted surrounding greenness in preschool children. For example, a one-interquartile range increase in kindergarten and residence-kindergartenweighted NDVI was associated with decreased T scores for total behaviour by -0.61 [95% confidence interval (CI): -1.09, -0.13) and -0.49 (95% CI -0.85, -0.12), anxiety and depression by -0.65 (95% CI: -1.13, -0.17) and -0.46 (95% CI: -0.82, -0.10), aggressive behaviour by -0.53 (95% CI: -1.01, -0.05) and -0.38 (95% CI: -0.75, -0.02) and hyperactivity and attention deficit by -0.54 (95% CI: -1.01, -0.07) and -0.48 (95% CI: -0.83, -0.12), respectively. Stratified analyses indicated that the associations of green-space exposure with problem behaviours were stronger in boys than in girls. Conclusions: Children attending kindergartens with higher levels of surrounding green space exhibited better behavioural development. The mechanisms underlying these associations should be explored further.
AB - Background: Limited evidence is available regarding the association of green-space exposure with childhood behavioural development. This study aimed to investigate the associations of exposure to green space with multiple syndromes of behavioural development in preschool children. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Wuhan, China from April 2016 to June 2018. We recruited a sample of 6039 children aged 5-6 years from 17 kindergartens located in five urban districts of the city. We measured the greenness using average Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within a circular buffer area of 100 metres surrounding the central point of residences and kindergartens. We calculated the residence- kindergarten-weighted greenness by assuming that children spent 16 hours per day at home and 8 hours at kindergarten. The problem behaviours of children were evaluated at kindergarten using the Childhood Behavioral Checklist (CBCL) and standardized into problem behavioural T scores. Linear mixed-effect models and linear-regression models were used to estimate the associations. Results: We observed decreases in problem behaviours associated with kindergarten and residence-kindergarten-weighted surrounding greenness in preschool children. For example, a one-interquartile range increase in kindergarten and residence-kindergartenweighted NDVI was associated with decreased T scores for total behaviour by -0.61 [95% confidence interval (CI): -1.09, -0.13) and -0.49 (95% CI -0.85, -0.12), anxiety and depression by -0.65 (95% CI: -1.13, -0.17) and -0.46 (95% CI: -0.82, -0.10), aggressive behaviour by -0.53 (95% CI: -1.01, -0.05) and -0.38 (95% CI: -0.75, -0.02) and hyperactivity and attention deficit by -0.54 (95% CI: -1.01, -0.07) and -0.48 (95% CI: -0.83, -0.12), respectively. Stratified analyses indicated that the associations of green-space exposure with problem behaviours were stronger in boys than in girls. Conclusions: Children attending kindergartens with higher levels of surrounding green space exhibited better behavioural development. The mechanisms underlying these associations should be explored further.
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U2 - 10.1093/IJE/DYZ243
DO - 10.1093/IJE/DYZ243
M3 - Article
C2 - 31782776
AN - SCOPUS:85089127228
SN - 0300-5771
VL - 49
SP - 944
EP - 953
JO - International Journal of Epidemiology
JF - International Journal of Epidemiology
IS - 3
ER -
