Exposure to Neighborhood Green Space and Mental Health: Evidence from the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin

TLDR

Green space is increasingly recognized as a health‑promoting feature of residential environments, linked to mental health benefits such as reduced stress, yet few population‑level or non‑urban studies have examined these relationships. This study provides a U.S. population‑level analysis of how environmental green space relates to mental health across urban to rural settings. Using multivariate survey regression on the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin, the authors examined green space–mental health associations while adjusting for neighborhood residence length to mitigate selection bias.

Abstract

Green space is now widely viewed as a health-promoting characteristic of residential environments, and has been linked to mental health benefits such as recovery from mental fatigue and reduced stress, particularly through experimental work in environmental psychology. Few population level studies have examined the relationships between green space and mental health. Further, few studies have considered the role of green space in non-urban settings. This study contributes a population-level perspective from the United States to examine the relationship between environmental green space and mental health outcomes in a study area that includes a spectrum of urban to rural environments. Multivariate survey regression analyses examine the association between green space and mental health using the unique, population-based Survey of the Health of Wisconsin database. Analyses were adjusted for length of residence in the neighborhood to reduce the impact of neighborhood selection bias. Higher levels of neighborhood green space were associated with significantly lower levels of symptomology for depression, anxiety and stress, after controlling for a wide range of confounding factors. Results suggest that “greening” could be a potential population mental health improvement strategy in the United States.