Environmental Determinants of Aggression in Adolescents: Role of Urban Neighborhood Greenspace

doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2016.05.002

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Volume 55, Issue 7, July 2016, Pages 591-601

Preliminary results presented at the Society for Epidemiologic Research Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, June 16-19, 2015.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2016.05.002 Get rights and content

Objective

Neighborhood greenspace improves mental health of urban-dwelling populations, but its putative neurobehavioral benefits in adolescents remain unclear. We conducted a prospective study on urban-dwelling adolescents to examine the association between greenspace in residential neighborhood and aggressive behaviors.

Method

Participants (n = 1,287) of the Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior Study, a multi-ethnic cohort of twins and triplets born in 1990 to 1995 and living in Southern California, were examined in 2000 to 2012 (aged 9−18 years) with repeated assessments of their aggressive behaviors by the parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived from satellite imagery was used as a proxy for residential neighborhood greenspace aggregated over various spatiotemporal scales before each assessment. Multilevel mixed-effects models were used to estimate the effects of greenspace on aggressive behaviors, adjusting for within-family/within-individual correlations and other potential confounders.

Results

Both short-term (1- to 6-month) and long-term (1- to 3-year) exposures to greenspace within 1,000 meters surrounding residences were associated with reduced aggressive behaviors. The benefit of increasing vegetation over the range (∼0.12 in NDVI) commonly seen in urban environments was equivalent to approximately 2 to 2.5 years of behavioral maturation. Sociodemographic factors (e.g., age, gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status) and neighborhood quality did not confound or modify these associations, and the benefits remained after accounting for temperature.

Conclusion

Our novel findings support the benefits of neighborhood greenspace in reducing aggressive behaviors of urban-dwelling adolescents. Community-based interventions are needed to determine the efficacy of greenspace as a preemptive strategy to reduce aggressive behaviors in urban environments.

Section snippets

Study Design

Participants were drawn from the Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior (RFAB) twin study based at the University of Southern California (USC). RFAB is a prospective study of the interplay of genetic, environmental, social, and biological factors on the development of antisocial behavior from childhood to early adulthood. Participating families were recruited from Los Angeles County and surrounding areas, representative of the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of the greater Los Angeles area.²⁹

Distributions of Estimated NDVI and Aggressive Behavior Scores

Table 1 shows our comparison of population characteristics of the 1,287 RFAB participants in relation to the quartile distribution of NDVI in a 1,000-m buffer averaged over the 6-month period before baseline. In our study sample, individuals of white ethnicity, those from households with higher SES, those perceiving better neighborhood quality, and those born to nonsmoking mothers were more likely to reside in locations with higher levels of NDVI (e.g., in the highest-exposure quartile), as

Discussion

In this large and, likely, first study on urban-dwelling children and adolescents (aged 9−18) with prospectively collected longitudinal data on residential histories and behavioral assessments, we found strong evidence supporting the benefits of neighborhood greenspace in reducing aggressive behaviors. The benefits of increasing vegetation over the range (∼0.12 in NDVI) commonly seen in urban environments were equivalent to approximately 2 to 2.5 years of age-related behavioral maturation. The

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: This article is discussed in an editorial by Dr. Peter S. Jensen on page 540.

: This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS; R21 ES022369 and F31 ES025080) and the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center (5P30ES007048). The USC Twin Cohort Study is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; R01 MH058354). The contents of this manuscript are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

: Disclosure: Dr. J. Wu has received grant funding from NIEHS, the Health Effect Institute (HEI), the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and the BP/South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD). She has served as a consultant to a project funded by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (Komen). Dr. Franklin has received grant funding from NIH and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Dr. Berhane has received grant funding from NIH, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Dr. McConnell has received grant funding from NIH and US EPA, and research support provided by funds from an air quality violations settlement agreement between the South Coast Air Quality Management District, a California state regulatory agency, and BP. Dr. A.H. Wu has received grant funding from NIEHS, Komen, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP). Dr. Chen has received grant funding from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Ms. Younan has received grant funding from NIA. Mr. Lurmann has received grant funding from NIH and the US EPA. He is an employee and stockholder of Sonoma Technology, Inc. Drs. Tuvblad, Li, and Baker report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

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New researchEnvironmental Determinants of Aggression in Adolescents: Role of Urban Neighborhood Greenspace

Objective

Method

Results

Conclusion

Section snippets

Study Design

Distributions of Estimated NDVI and Aggressive Behavior Scores

Discussion

Int J Nurs Stud

Adv Genet

Environ Res

Neuron

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Ann Epidemiol

Landscape Urban Plan

Landscape Urban Plan

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Am J Clin Nutr

Trends Pharmacol Sci

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Aggress Viol Behav

Soc Sci Med

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

World report on violence and health

The state of the world's children 2012: children in an urban world

Urban neighborhoods and mental health: Psychological contributions to understanding toxicity, resilience, and interventions

Am Psychologist

World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, (ST/ESA/SER.A/366)

Understanding aggressive behaviour across the lifespan

J Psychiatr Mental Health Nurs

Early predictors of adolescent aggression and adult violence

Violence Victims

Traffic-related air pollution exposure in the first year of life and behavioral scores at 7 years of age

Environ Health Perspect

Prenatal exposure to air pollution, maternal psychological distress, and child behavior

Pediatrics

Aggression as a function of ambient temperature and prior anger arousal

J Pers Soc Psychol

Aggression and heat: mediating effects of prior provocation and exposure to an aggressive model

J Pers Soc Psychol

Aggression and heat: the influence of ambient temperature, negative affect, and a cooling drink on physical aggression

J Pers Soc Psychol

Weather daily variation in winter and its effect on behavior and affective states in day-care children

Int J Biometeorol

Seasonal variation, weather and behavior in day-care children: a multilevel approach

Int J Biometeorol

Neighborhood noise pollution as a determinant of displaced aggression: a pilot study

Noise Health

New research
Environmental Determinants of Aggression in Adolescents: Role of Urban Neighborhood Greenspace