title: Impact of residential greenness on preschool children's emotional and behavioral problems.
abstract: This study investigated the effects of the proximity to city parks and the influence of residential greenness on children's emotional and behavioral problems. This cross-sectional study included 1,468 mothers of children (ages 4 to 6) who were residents of the city of Kaunas, Lithuania. The mothers and their children were enrolled in the FP7 PHENOTYPE project study. The mothers reported on their parenting stress and their children's mental health. Residential greenness was characterized as an average of the satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in a 300 m buffer around each home address, and the proximity to city parks was defined as the distance from the subject's residence to the nearest park. Linear regression models were used to investigate the association among the residence distances from city parks, greenness and children's mental health problems. Farther residential distance from city parks was associated with worse mental health (except for the emotional problems subscale) in children whose mothers had a lower education level. More residential greenness was associated with worse mental health (more conditional problems and less prosocial behavior) in children whose mothers had a higher education level. These relationships have important implications for the prevention of emotional and behavioral problems in children.
authors: Department of Theoretical Psychology, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelaicio str. 58, Kaunas 44248, Lithuania. birutebalse@gmail.com.
authors: Birute
authors: B
authors: Balseviciene
authors: Department of Theoretical Psychology, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelaicio str. 58, Kaunas 44248, Lithuania. l.sinkariova@smf.vdu.lt.
authors: Liuda
authors: L
authors: Sinkariova
authors: Department of Environmental Sciences, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelaicio str. 58, Kaunas 44248, Lithuania. r.grazuleviciene@gmf.vdu.lt.
authors: Regina
authors: R
authors: Grazuleviciene
authors: Department of Environmental Sciences, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelaicio str. 58, Kaunas 44248, Lithuania. s.andrusaityte@gmf.vdu.lt.
authors: Sandra
authors: S
authors: Andrusaityte
authors: Department of Environmental Sciences, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelaicio str. 58, Kaunas 44248, Lithuania. i.uzdanaviciute@gmf.vdu.lt.
authors: Inga
authors: I
authors: Uzdanaviciute
authors: Department of Environmental Sciences, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelaicio str. 58, Kaunas 44248, Lithuania. a.dedele@gmf.vdu.lt.
authors: Audrius
authors: A
authors: Dedele
authors: Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), Barcelona, E-08003, Spain. mnieuwenhuijsen@creal.cat.
authors: Mark J
authors: MJ
authors: Nieuwenhuijsen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004522:Educational Status; D004644:Emotions; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008097:Lithuania / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult