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Associations between green/blue spaces and mental health across 18 countries

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dc.contributor.author White, Mathew P.
dc.contributor.author Elliott, Lewis R.
dc.contributor.author Grellier, James
dc.contributor.author Economou, Theo
dc.contributor.author Bell, Simon
dc.contributor.author Bratman, Gregory N.
dc.contributor.author Cirach, Marta
dc.contributor.author Gascon Merlos, Mireia, 1984-
dc.contributor.author Lima, Maria L.
dc.contributor.author Lõhmus, Mare
dc.contributor.author Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.
dc.contributor.author Ojala, Ann
dc.contributor.author Roiko, Anne
dc.contributor.author Schultz, P. Wesley
dc.contributor.author van den Bosch, Matilda A.
dc.contributor.author Fleming, Lora E.
dc.date.accessioned 2022-06-02T06:02:38Z
dc.date.available 2022-06-02T06:02:38Z
dc.date.issued 2021
dc.identifier.citation White MP, Elliott LR, Grellier J, Economou T, Bell S, Bratman GN, Cirach M, Gascon M, Lima ML, Lõhmus M, Nieuwenhuijsen M, Ojala A, Roiko A, Schultz PW, van den Bosch M, Fleming LE. Associations between green/blue spaces and mental health across 18 countries. Sci Rep. 2021 Apr 26;11(1):8903. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-87675-0
dc.identifier.issn 2045-2322
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/53357
dc.description.abstract Living near, recreating in, and feeling psychologically connected to, the natural world are all associated with better mental health, but many exposure-related questions remain. Using data from an 18-country survey (n = 16,307) we explored associations between multiple measures of mental health (positive well-being, mental distress, depression/anxiety medication use) and: (a) exposures (residential/recreational visits) to different natural settings (green/inland-blue/coastal-blue spaces); and (b) nature connectedness, across season and country. People who lived in greener/coastal neighbourhoods reported higher positive well-being, but this association largely disappeared when recreational visits were controlled for. Frequency of recreational visits to green, inland-blue, and coastal-blue spaces in the last 4 weeks were all positively associated with positive well-being and negatively associated with mental distress. Associations with green space visits were relatively consistent across seasons and countries but associations with blue space visits showed greater heterogeneity. Nature connectedness was also positively associated with positive well-being and negatively associated with mental distress and was, along with green space visits, associated with a lower likelihood of using medication for depression. By contrast inland-blue space visits were associated with a greater likelihood of using anxiety medication. Results highlight the benefits of multi-exposure, multi-response, multi-country studies in exploring complexity in nature-health associations.
dc.description.sponsorship This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 666773 (BlueHealth). Data collection in California was supported by the Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University. Data collection in Canada was supported by the Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia. Data collection in Finland was supported by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). Data collection in Australia was supported by Griffith University and the University of the Sunshine Coast. Data collection in Portugal was supported by ISCTE—University Institute of Lisbon. Data collection in Ireland was supported by the Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland. Data collection in Hong Kong was supported by an internal University of Exeter—Chinese University of Hong Kong international collaboration fund. The funders had no role in the conceptualisation, design, analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.language.iso eng
dc.publisher Nature Research
dc.relation.ispartof Sci Rep. 2021 Apr 26;11(1):8903
dc.rights © The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.title Associations between green/blue spaces and mental health across 18 countries
dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87675-0
dc.subject.keyword Environmental social sciences
dc.subject.keyword Psychology
dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/666773
dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

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