Relationship between environment and psychological development of children
The results of a study conducted at Cornell College of Human Ecology at the University of Michigan have shown that growing up in a green environment introduces significant improvements to the psychological development of children.
Nancy Wells, assistant professor of "Design and Environmental Analysis" has looked at children living in poor housing without gardens or green spaces nearby. The mothers of these children were interviewed about their behavior and academic achievement. The families were then moved into better housing with gardens and green spaces. A year later, mothers were again asked about the behavior and academic achievement of their children.
Results showed a profound improvement in cognitive abilities and concentration of children. The largest increases were seen in children who were placed in a vegetated.
Gardens, green areas and treatment of the syndrome of hyperactivity and attention disorders in children
Frances E. Kuo and Andrea Faber Tayler, professors in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, conducted a study on the impact of natural parks or on the syndrome hyperactivity and attention disorders in children.
The method used is as follows: parents had to measure the effects produced by 49-school activities. These effects were then compared. The activities carried out in parks have reduced much more significant symptoms of hyperactivity than those conducted in artificial spaces both inside and outside. These results were confirmed regardless of any criteria of age, gender, social class and ethnicity, and geographic region of the intensity of the syndrome.
Green spaces outside seem to reduce symptoms of hyperactivity and attention disorders in children in a very large number of cases.