Greenspaces with tree cover increase children’s physical activity to reduce ADHD diagnoses Previous research has found that ADHD diagnoses are less common for children who live near greenspaces. However, those studies did not investigate how, exactly, greenspace exposure may reduce the incidence of ADHD. This Polish study analyzed quantitative data to investigate correlations between environmental and neighborhood variables and ADHD diagnoses among children age 10-13. The aim was to identify specific ways that lifelong greenspace exposure directly or indirectly reduces children’s risk of being diagnosed with ADHD.
This quantitative study was a follow up to the NeuroSmog study, which investigated how air pollution in 18 Polish communities impacted brain development in children with and without ADHD. For the current study, Buczylowska et al. used the original study’s environmental, neighborhood, and demographic data for a different purpose: to test for associations between variables to determine (1) what types of greenspace (e.g. grass cover, tree cover, gardens) are correlated with ADHD diagnoses and (2) how greenspace exposure may contribute to healthy neurodevelopment through related mechanisms, such as perceived greenspace, physical activity, neighborhood social cohesion, and neighborhood safety.
The study identified one statistically significant pathway through which lifelong greenspace exposure indirectly contributes to fewer ADHD diagnoses in middle childhood. According to the study’s correlational analysis, the more tree cover there was, the more physical activity there was. More physical activity was related to fewer ADHD diagnoses. That is, green spaces with tree cover increase the frequency and duration of children’s physical activity, which reduces their likelihood of being diagnosed with ADHD. Thus, greenspace exposure does not affect ADHD diagnoses directly—it supports healthy neurodevelopment indirectly through children’s physical activity. This effect was only statistically significant for greenspaces with tree cover, not grass cover or gardens. Greenspace variables were not related to neighborhood safety or social cohesion. However, tree cover and garden were each related to greater perceived greenspace. Perceptions of more greenspace were, in turn, related to higher neighbourhood social cohesion. The indirect pathways from greenspace through perceived greenspace and neighbourhood social cohesion to ADHD were not significant. Similarly, indirect pathways through perceived greenspace to ADHD were not significant.
This study’s key takeaway is to protect children’s access to wooded environments that increase their physical activity since those greenspaces support healthy neurodevelopment. Similarly, urban planners should prioritize access to greenspace to reduce ADHD and mental health issues in children. The small number of statistically significant correlations in this study is also a call for researchers to study larger population samples, which may have the power to identify more relationships than the present study. In addition, the authors call for more longitudinal studies of children diagnosed with ADHD to better understand relationships between greenspaces and the development of ADHD. In doing so, researchers may identify additional ways that lifelong greenspace exposure has positive effects on children’s attention and neurodevelopment.
Buczylowska, D., Singh, N., Baumbach, C., Bratkowski, J., Mysak, Y., Wierzba-Lukaszyk, M., Sitnik-Warchulska, K., Skotak, K., Lipowska, M., Izydorczyk, B., Szwed, M., Markevych, I., and Dzhambov, M. (2024). Lifelong greenspace exposure and ADHD in Polish children: Role of physical activity and perceived neighbourhood characteristics. <em>Journal of Environmental Psychology, 96.</em>
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