Is Brief Exposure to Green Space in School the Best Option to Improve Attention in Children?

Asier Anabitarte, Gonzalo García-Baquero, Ainara Andiarena, Nerea Lertxundi, Nerea Urbieta, Izaro Babarro, Jesús Ibarluzea and Aitana Lertxundi
Additional contact information
Asier Anabitarte: Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Barrio Sarriena s/n, 48490 Leioa, Spain
Gonzalo García-Baquero: Biodonostia, Environmental Epidemiology and Child Development Group, Paseo Doctor Begiristain s/n, 20014 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
Ainara Andiarena: Biodonostia, Environmental Epidemiology and Child Development Group, Paseo Doctor Begiristain s/n, 20014 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
Nerea Lertxundi: Biodonostia, Environmental Epidemiology and Child Development Group, Paseo Doctor Begiristain s/n, 20014 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
Nerea Urbieta: Biodonostia, Environmental Epidemiology and Child Development Group, Paseo Doctor Begiristain s/n, 20014 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
Izaro Babarro: Biodonostia, Environmental Epidemiology and Child Development Group, Paseo Doctor Begiristain s/n, 20014 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
Jesús Ibarluzea: Biodonostia, Environmental Epidemiology and Child Development Group, Paseo Doctor Begiristain s/n, 20014 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
Aitana Lertxundi: Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Barrio Sarriena s/n, 48490 Leioa, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-13

Abstract: The positive effects of Green Spaces on health are thought to be achieved through the mechanisms of mitigation, instoration and restoration. One of the benefits of Green Spaces may be the restoration of attention and so the objective of this research is testing empirically whether exposure to a green environment improves attention in school children. For so doing, we first used a split-unit statistical design in each of four schools, then combined the primary results via meta-analysis. The Attention Network Test (ANT) was used to measure attention before and after exposure and a total of 167 seven-year-old students participated in the experiments. Overall, our experimental results do not support the hypothesis that students’ exposure to activities in green vs. grey spaces affected their performance in ANT. This was so despite the fact that neither age nor gender biases have been detected and despite that our experiments have been proved to be sufficiently statistically powerful. It would be advisable to consider air pollution and noise. We also recommend that participants attend the experiment with mental exhaustion to maximize the ability to detect significant changes.

Keywords: attention network test; natural spaces; mental health; ReML (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7484/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7484/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7484-:d:593636

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().