Public greenspace and mental wellbeing among mid-older aged adults: Findings from the HABITAT longitudinal study

Alison Carver; Jerome N Rachele; Takemi Sugiyama; Billie-Giles Corti; Nicola W Burton; Gavin Turrell

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103311

Public greenspace and mental wellbeing among mid-older aged adults: Findings from the HABITAT longitudinal study

Health Place. 2024 Sep:89:103311. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103311. Epub 2024 Jul 19.

Authors

Alison Carver¹, Jerome N Rachele², Takemi Sugiyama³, Billie-Giles Corti⁴, Nicola W Burton⁵, Gavin Turrell⁶

Affiliations

¹ National Centre for Healthy Ageing, Frankston, VIC, Australia; School of Translational Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
² College and Health and Biomedicine & Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
³ Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia; Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Urban Research, RMIT, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia.
⁵ School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt, QLD, Australia; Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia; Centre for Mental Health, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
⁶ Centre for Urban Research, RMIT, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

PMID: 39032205
DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103311

Abstract

We explored temporal associations between public greenspace and adults' mental wellbeing. Participants (n = 5,906) aged 40-65 years at baseline had data at >2 post-baseline waves of HABITAT, a multilevel longitudinal study (2007-16) in Brisbane, Australia. Participants self-reported mental wellbeing (short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale) and neighbourhood self-selection reasons at Waves 2-5 (2009-11-13-16). We examined associations between Δgreenspace (within 1 km of home) and Δmental wellbeing using a linear fixed effects model, adjusting for time-varying confounders. Mental wellbeing increased (β = 1.75; 95% Confidence Interval:0.25-3.26) with greenspace exposure, adjusting for self-selection. Urban planning and policy initiatives to increase public greenspace may benefit mental wellbeing.

Keywords: Ageing; Greenspace; Mental Wellbeing; Older adults; Self-selection.

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Australia
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Mental Health*
Middle Aged
Neighborhood Characteristics
Parks, Recreational* / statistics & numerical data
Residence Characteristics
Self Report