Recently, Professor Jiao Can from our college, together with Assistant Professor Huang Dengkai from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Shenzhen University, graduate student Li Jianchao, Professor He Fang, and Song Zhao, Director of the Student Development Research Department at Bao'an District Education Science Research Institute, co-published the latest research findings in the international authoritative journal Habitat International: Greenspace Exposure and Parental Mental Well-Being: Environmental-Behavioral Mechanisms Stratified by Gender and Health Status. Professor Jiao Can is the corresponding author, with Shenzhen University as the first affiliation.
This study, based on questionnaire data from 2,921 parents and 2,731 children in Shenzhen, combined with street view image analysis and remote sensing monitoring, systematically explores how greenspace exposure influences parents' overall mental health, depression, and anxiety levels through environmental and behavioral pathways.
Main Findings: 1. The study shows that, compared to objective greenspace quantity (e.g., NDVI, green view index) or greenspace form indicators (e.g., shape complexity, connectivity), parents' subjective satisfaction with surrounding greenspace has a more significant positive impact on mental health, consistent with findings that nature connectedness contributes more to subjective well-being than mere greenspace exposure. 2. Mothers' mental health is more susceptible to multiple influences such as work stress, physical activity, family relationship satisfaction, and children's mental health, with significantly more mediating paths than for fathers. 3. Parents with better health status are more affected by greenspace. Parents with higher baseline mental health show more significant positive associations across multiple greenspace exposure paths. 4. Children's mental health plays a key mediating role in parents' mental health. Except for parents with high anxiety levels, children's mental health generally bridges greenspace exposure and parents' mental health.
This study is a large-scale research comprehensively modeling from three dimensions of greenspace—"quantity—form—subjective satisfaction," combined with dual samples of parents and children and multi-path mediation tests. Results show that merely increasing urban greenspace area is insufficient to improve public mental health; how to enhance residents' satisfaction and usage experience with greenspace is a more critical direction in urban planning and public health policies. The paper suggests that future urban greening construction should not only focus on quantity indicators but also improve greenspace quality, connectivity, and landscape accessibility, with particular attention to precise support for mothers and mentally vulnerable groups.
Habitat International is an international authoritative journal under Elsevier, founded in 1976, focusing on urban-rural human settlement environment research, covering fields such as urban planning, land policy, and sustainable development. According to the latest data, the journal's impact factor is 7.0, ranking in Q1 in disciplines such as development studies and environmental studies.
Author Introduction:
Jiao Can, Professor in the Department of Sociology, Doctoral Supervisor, Shenzhen High-Level Reserve Talent, Director of the Shenzhen University Mental Health Research Center (key humanities and social sciences research base in Shenzhen), serving as Vice President of the Guangdong Social Psychology Society, Deputy Secretary-General and Council Member of the Education and Statistical Measurement Branch of the Chinese Education Society, and Council Member of the Chinese Social Psychology Society, among other positions. Research fields include psychological statistics and measurement theory and application, mental health, social mentality, etc. Has hosted 2 National Social Science Fund projects, published over 80 SCI/SSCI/CSSCI indexed papers in important domestic and international journals and international conferences.
Article Source: DOI: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2025.103624
Layout | Li Huan
First Review | Wang Yingying
Second Review | Jiao Can
Final Review | Gu Zhijun
