SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2021
Life Course Nature Exposure and Mental Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Future Directions.
Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 76 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic overview and second-order meta-analysis of nature-based interventions for stress, anxiety and depression.Nature human behaviour · 2026Pooled it
- Long-Term Exposure to Greenspace and Cognitive Function during the Lifespan: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Gardening in Childcare Centers: A Randomized Controlled Trial Examining the Effects of a Garden Intervention on Physical Activity among Children Aged 3-5 Years in North Carolina.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Trial
- Article
- Using games to draw attention to urban nature exposure and its therapeutic benefits: a study protocol.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Toward a proposal for a national strategy for access to outdoor stays in residential care facilities for older adults in Sweden.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Exploring the Restorative Effects of Natural Environments in Virtual Reality.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Top 10 Public Health Challenges for 2024: Charting a New Direction for Global Health Security.Public health challenges · 2025Article
- Predictors of Life Satisfaction in Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander College Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- An integrative examination of psychological distress and its nutritional and visual correlates among young adults in Ghana.PloS one · 2025Article
- Driven by feelings or stimulated by context: how childhood nature experience shaped adulthood pro-environmental behavior?Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Contacts with environmental biodiversity affect human health: links revealed during the initial waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The Health-Related and Learning Performance Effects of Air Pollution and Other Urban-Related Environmental Factors on School-Age Children and Adolescents-A Scoping Review of Systematic Reviews.Current environmental health reports · 2024Article
- Green Space and Internalizing or Externalizing Symptoms Among Children.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Evaluation of urinary limonene metabolites as biomarkers of exposure to greenness.Environmental research · 2024Article
- Effects of forest bathing (Shinrin-yoku) in stressed people.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Life course and mental health: a thematic and systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Review
- Outdoor stays-A basic human need except for older adults in residential care facilities? Researcher-practitioner interaction crosses zones and shows the way out.Frontiers in dementia · 2024Article
- A Scoping Review of Urban Planning Decision Support Tools and Processes That Account for the Health, Environment, and Economic Benefits of Trees and Greenspace.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- It's time to take a sustainable approach to health care in the face of the challenges of the 21st century.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Recently, an emerging body of literature has examined the relationships between early life nature exposure and mental health in later life; however, no critical synthesis yet exists regarding the extent and strength of these relationships. This study presents the first systematic review of studies in this growing area. Following the PRISMA framework, we searched six databases (i.e., Scopus, Web of Science, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and CINAHL); conducted identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion analyses; and identified a final set of 29 articles. The review set comprises primarily longitudinal studies, with several cross-sectional studies using retrospective measures of childhood nature exposure. The majority of included studies were published between 2016 and 2020 and conducted in Europe and North America. Five domains of mental health outcomes are associated with early-life nature exposure: incidence of mental disorders, psychiatric symptoms and emotions, conduct problems in children, cognitive function, and subjective well-being. The evidence lends support to an overall beneficial role of early nature exposure on mental health, although inconsistencies are reported. Taken together, the evidence does not suggest that exposure at any given life stage is more saliently associated with mental health outcomes than at others. We discuss the validity concerns and methodological remedies and offer directions for future research.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.