Greening, Violence Exposure, and Adolescent Mental Health: The Role of Perceived Neighborhood Greening, Neighborhood Aesthetics, and Harmful Urban Conditions.

Neighborhood environments influence adolescent health. Vacant lots and violence exposure contribute to elevated mental health risks, particularly for Black youth, cisgender girls, and transgender or gender non-conforming youth. Urban greening shows promise for improving safety, community cohesion, and adolescent mental health; however, most existing evidence comes from adult-focused studies, underscoring the need to better understand its effects on youth. In response, we examined whether perceptions of neighborhood greening and maintenance are associated with the mental health impacts of violence exposure among adolescents living in Baltimore City. We recruited adolescents aged 14-19 from Baltimore City to participate in Project VITAL. Young people completed in-person surveys at youth-focused community events between October 2022 and September 2023 after obtaining appropriate consent and assent. We found that violence exposure was consistently associated with PTSD, depression, anxiety, and reduced happiness for Black adolescents in Baltimore. Nearby greening conditions did not lessen these effects. However, certain facilitators of green space use (e.g., more trees in the neighborhood, access to green spaces) were linked to increased happiness, as well as lower depression and anxiety. Overall, neighborhood greening alone appears insufficient to promote mental health without broader investments in safety, stability, and youth-centered supports. To promote mental well-being, findings indicate that greening would need to be combined with other evidence-based strategies to improve adolescent safety and mental well-being.