Surrounding greenery alone doesn’t predict self-regulation; nature connectedness is also requiredThis study investigated the link between greenery around children's homes and three areas of self-regulation: cognitive, emotional, and behavioral. The study also sought to determine how nature connectedness might impact the relationship between greenery and children’s regulation skills. Because the impacts of greenery on children's nature connectedness levels may differ due to differences in their perceptual systems, this study also sought to determine if perceptual sensitivity would moderate the relationship between greenery and nature connectedness.
Two hundred and ninety-nine mother-child pairs from three different school districts in the metropolitan capital city of Turkey participated in this study. As a part of the data collection process, both the children (age 8-11) and their mothers completed questionnaires. The children’s questionnaire included assessments of their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral regulation skills. It also included an assessment of their nature connectedness and their perception of levels of nearby nature. The mothers’ questionnaire included an assessment of their perception of levels of nearby nature and their perception of their child’s perceptual sensitivity. Remote sensing measurements were used to determine actual greenery around the children’s homes.
This study found that when children lived in areas with more greenery, they reported higher levels of nature connectedness. As the nature connectedness levels increased, so did the cognitive and emotional regulation skills. This study also found a positive association between greenery and perceptual sensitivity. Children’s perceptual sensitivity level, however, did not moderate the association between greenery and nature connectedness.
The results of this study showed that greenery did not directly predict the regulation skills of children; but that nature connectedness had an indirect effect on emotional and cognitive regulation. In other words, nature connectedness mediated the link between greenery and emotional regulation and between greenery and cognitive regulation. The same effect was not found for behavioral regulation.
This research shows that surrounding greenery alone doesn’t predict regulation skills of children; nature connectedness is also required. “This result emphasizes the importance of the nature connectedness levels of children. It reveals that the existence of surrounding greenery is not enough to increase regulation skills: children should connect with these areas.”
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