Study shows family characteristics to be more strongly associated with children’s self-regulation than area characteristics, including neighborhood greenspaceSelf-regulation—“the ability to control, direct, and plan cognitions, emotions, and behavior”—is an important part of child development. While numerous studies have shown that individual and family factors can influence a child’s development of self-regulation, some research suggests that the wider context may also play a role. Neighborhood greenspace, as a part of the wider physical context, was the focus of this study. Previous studies investigating possible links between exposure to greenspace and children’s self-regulation were based on small population samples and have reported mixed results.
For this study, researchers used longitudinal data from a large general-population cohort in the UK to investigate the association of neighborhood greenspace quantity with children’s self-regulation in early and middle childhood. Two distinct components of self-regulation—independence and emotional dysregulation—were assessed when participating children were around three, five, and seven years of age. Other information gathered about participating children related to the home physical environment, family background, maternal education and depression, exposure to neighborhood air pollution and deprivation, and key child-level characteristics. The study involved 13,774 children born between September 1, 2000 and August 31, 2001 in England and Wales or between November 24, 2000 and January 11, 2002 in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
As expected, self-regulation scores for most of the children improved from age three to seven. Overall results—which were not expected—howed no association of neighborhood greenspace quantity with either aspect of self-regulation. On the whole, child- and family-level factors best explained differences in both independence and emotional dysregulation. Independence tended to be higher if families had not moved during the study period, and if mothers had higher levels of education and lower levels of psychological distress. Independence was higher in girls and in children with a higher IQ. Children of families who owned their home and children who had access to a garden had lower levels of independence. Aspects of the home physical environment associated with higher levels of emotional dysregulation included dampness/condensation and secondhand smoke. Children’s emotional dysregulation tended to be lower if they lived with both of their natural parents.
This study found family characteristics to be more strongly associated with children’s self-regulation than area characteristics. While these findings are in line with some previous studies showing mixed results, they were also unexpected when considering the existing literature and the theoretical foundations of the study. One possible explanation of these unexpected findings relates to the fact that greenspace quantity as defined in the study may not accurately reflect children’s exposure to greenspace. The greenspace measure used did not include information about proximity to green spaces, quality and use of green spaces, or other factors, such as views of nature from the home or accessibility of green spaces. To further clarify possible connections between self-regulation in children and neighborhood greenspace, further research is recommended and suggestions for such research are offered.
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