José Antonio Corraliza is a professor and director of the Department of Psychology at the Autonomous University of Madrid, along with Silvia Collado (PhD student at the time when the study I reviewed) came out, he published in the journal Phicotema, a research called “The nearby nature as a moderator of childhood stress” (year 2011).
Since I interviewed the director of the Roger Torné Foundation (Soledad Román), I had pending to show you some results that I think are most revealing.
Specifically on that occasion, the interviewee indicated that Dr. Corraliza had conducted a study among Cuenca students, to show that “Those who go to schools with green yards, endure the greatest stress at all levels, and emotionally they are more prepared - compared to others that develop in a more "hard" / unkind environment.
In the opinion of the authors, and according to their observations, Close nature moderates the negative effects of some stressful situations. That is why children who have greater contact with the natural environment are better able to face "some of the adverse situations to which they are regularly exposed, and suffer less stress than one would expect without that protective factor."
The objective of the research was to study the physical characteristics of children's everyday environments, observing how they affect their well-being. Those that were natural in residential and school settings were evaluated
The contact with Nature is positive for people ...
So much so that in the case of children, "the absence" of this Nature is not only the opposite (negative), but - it can also lead to the so-called Nature Deficit Disorder.
Everyone's "mother" It helps to regain attention capacity and restores our psychological balance, and all this is not only an individual / collective perception that we may have, but it is protected by theories about the Restorative Effect of Nature. ”
The children undergo stressful situations every day, some of them are discussions with parents or insufficient time for homework (to which I add lack of time to play after homework). Every child's stress develops depending on the ability to cope with adverse situations. But the so-called Buffering hypothesis is based on the conviction that the negative effects of these stressful situations are less when there is Nature nearby.
The study of Corraliza and Collado
This research therefore aims to study the physical characteristics of everyday environments of the smallest in order to determine if they affect your well-being. Specifically, the natural characteristics of the residential environment and the school environment are evaluated, trying to establish a relationship between them and the psychic health of the participants.
Different schools in Cuenca have been evaluated using a Near Nature Observation scale, and then choose four of them based on the amount of Nature present in the school and surroundings (nature levels between low and very high).
In addition, an applied Stress scale was applied consisting of 50 items divided into two subscales, indicating the final score of the child's stress level at home, school and globally. It was also used a perceived nature questionnaire to measure the perception of each child; and finally the repertoire of stressful events was also introduced, and among which the researchers had selected, the children chose according to the frequency with which they happened.
The collected data were analyzed estimating significant differences, correlations, analysis of variance and hierarchical regressions.
The children were interviewed in their classes collectively, and then, individually, each child filled out the questionnaire that was given to them. Later, Each house was visited in order to assess the nearby nature to the residential environment.
It seems that the results of this work confirm the Buffering Hypothesis: Nature confers itself as a tool to face adverse situations; so that two children who suffer the same frequency of stressful events will have different levels of stress, depending on the amount of Nature they can access.
Yesterday the V Scientific Conference of the Roger Torné Foundation was held in Barcelona, and precisely Dr. Corraliza was present as a speaker.
Following #infanciayciudad, I have entered a phrase that it should make us all reflect, from parents to urban planning managers, through education professionals, child health experts, and authorities. “First people make cities, and then cities 'make' people”.
This is the case, with the aggravating fact that children have not even had the possibility of getting involved in the construction of cities, but do we want it to remain so? Are we interested in getting involved for our children and the children they will have in the future?
Images | Paw Paw, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region
Via | Magram
More information | Psychothema
In Peques and More | Don't let your children live a denatured childhood: Nature Deficit Curals!
