Two experimental studies investigated whether a relatively short exposure to nature can help children's self-regulation capacities. Self-regulation refers to people's ability to exert control over their thoughts, feelings impulses and behaviors. Difficulties with self-regulation in children have been linked to obesity and poor academic achievement.
Children from three primary schools in Cornwall, UK participated in this research. For each of the two studies, participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a natural environment condition, an urban environment condition, and a control condition. In each case, exposure to the condition was by way of a three-minute video. All of the participants completed pre- and post-test measures consisting of a delay of gratification task (as an indicator of self-regulation), a selective attention task, and a mood indicator.
For Study 1, the post-test delay of gratification scores were significantly better in the natural environment condition compared to the post-test scores of the urban environment condition. Compared to controls, however, this effect appeared to be due to the depleting effect of the urban condition rather than any restorative effect of the natural condition. Neither selective attention nor mood was affected by the type of scene viewed. Study 2 results indicated that exposure to the natural environment did increase mood. This positive affect, however, did not play a role in how exposure to the natural environment impacted self-regulation. These findings differ from similar research with adults, where even brief exposure to natural environments had greater positive restorative and self-regulation results than urban and control conditions.
This research suggests that children may need more than brief exposures to natural environments to experience the restorative benefits nature has to offer. This research also suggests that children's ability to delay gratification can become depleted after exposure to even a very short exposure to an urban environment. For wholesome development, children living in highly urbanized areas may need to spend more time away from such environments.
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