Children's agricultural work constrains perceived restoration, but the effect is mediated by familiarity, security and social contextPsychological restoration is presented in the literature as the process of recovering the physical and psychological resources that have been diminished in meeting the demands of everyday life. This study seeks to extend the research on restoration, typically focused on how certain physical features of the environment influence restoration, by examining how person-environment transactions constrain or foster restoration, particularly with respect to familiarity, social context, and perceived security.
Two groups of children living in a predominantly agricultural area of Spain participated in this study. One group (183 children, referred to as “work-related”) helped their parents in the agricultural family business. The other group (179 children, referred to as “non work-related”) did not work in the agricultural setting but spent free time there. The aim of this study was to consider how interactions with agricultural nearby nature by these two different groups might affect their perceptions of the restorative qualities of these environments.
Data was collected by way of a questionnaire paired with pictures of the agricultural landscape familiar to the children (to help children envision the landscape). The questionnaire was administered in the children’s primary classrooms. One item on the questionnaire asked children about their work relationship to nature: “I help my parents and/or other relatives when they work on the fields.” For this item, children were asked to respond with a simple “yes” or “no.” Other items on the questionnaire asked children to respond using a five-point Likert-like scale indicating the extent of their agreement to statements addressing elements of familiarity with agricultural areas, perceived security in relation to the agricultural environment and preference for being with a family member while in agricultural settings. Child-friendly symbols were printed next to the response options to help children understand the meaning of each option.
An adapted form of the Perceived Restorativeness Components Scale for Children II (PRCS-C II) was used to measure children’s perceived restorativeness of the agricultural setting. The adaptations consisted of replacing words like “school yard” (found in the original scale) with “places like the one in the picture” or “of this place.”
Almost all of the children (86.9%) whose parents work in agriculture indicated that they help their family with farm-related tasks. Children who helped out on the land tended to perceive agricultural areas as less restorative than those who only spend leisure time in those areas. Children who helped their parents in the fields were more familiar with the agricultural environment than children in the non work-related group. Familiarity played a complex role. Familiarity related to enhanced sense of security and less desire for being accompanied by family, which were associated with a greater sense of restoration. However, familiarity was also linked with lower restoration, perhaps due to a diminished sense of "being away" (theorized as critical for restoration) for children who work on the farm.
Overall, these findings indicated that being involved in work on the family farm constrained perceived restorativeness, however, this finding was explained by the mediating variables of familiarity with the agricultural area, perceived security and preference for not being accompanied by family members.
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