A potential natural treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: evidence from a national study.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the impact of relatively "green" or natural settings on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms across diverse subpopulations of children.


METHODS
Parents nationwide rated the aftereffects of 49 common after-school and weekend activities on children's symptoms. Aftereffects were compared for activities conducted in green outdoor settings versus those conducted in both built outdoor and indoor settings.


RESULTS
In this national, nonprobability sample, green outdoor activities reduced symptoms significantly more than did activities conducted in other settings, even when activities were matched across settings. Findings were consistent across age, gender, and income groups; community types; geographic regions; and diagnoses.


CONCLUSIONS
Green outdoor settings appear to reduce ADHD symptoms in children across a wide range of individual, residential, and case characteristics.
Kuo
Frances E
FE
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. fekuo@uiuc.edu
Taylor
Andrea Faber
AF
D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010988:Play and Playthings; D013177:Sports; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology