Assessing the Correlation between Neighborhood Green Areas and the Perceived Mental Health of Residents in Metropolitan Areas

Background: Urban parks play a noticeable role in city areas for making connections between nature and the residents of cities, especially from a mental health perspective. This paper investigated how the number and types of urban parks impact city residents' mental health. Method: This stu...

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Main Authors: Kyung-A Choi, Mehdi Rezaei
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2022-09-01
Series:Iranian Journal of Public Health
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/29715
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author Kyung-A Choi
Mehdi Rezaei
author_facet Kyung-A Choi
Mehdi Rezaei
author_sort Kyung-A Choi
collection DOAJ
description Background: Urban parks play a noticeable role in city areas for making connections between nature and the residents of cities, especially from a mental health perspective. This paper investigated how the number and types of urban parks impact city residents' mental health. Method: This study used the data collected by the Community Health Survey in Seoul, South Korea in 2020 (n=22915). The type and number of local parks were categorized based on each district, and three variables of mental health were selected, including ‘subjective health awareness’, ‘stress awareness’ and ‘depression rate’. Correlation and interaction analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between variables. Result: The data indicated that both the quantity and types of the urban parks were associated with mental health of the residents. Positive mental health is likely to be associated with higher density of local parks in a district. It seems that parks characterized by children's activity and have nature-focused design, are more effective in changing the mental health of residents. Discussion: The research demonstrates a positive relationship between the quantity of urban parks and mental health in the scale of city districts. However, such a correlation can differ based on the type of parks, as well as the quantity of greenery in an area.
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spelling doaj.art-83b3ec42c1a6472fa291c38965ce70ec2022-12-22T03:50:57ZengTehran University of Medical SciencesIranian Journal of Public Health2251-60852251-60932022-09-0151910.18502/ijph.v51i9.10557Assessing the Correlation between Neighborhood Green Areas and the Perceived Mental Health of Residents in Metropolitan AreasKyung-A Choi0Mehdi Rezaei1National Institute of Medical Welfare, Kangnam University, Yongin, South KoreaNational Institute of Medical Welfare, Kangnam University, Yongin, South Korea Background: Urban parks play a noticeable role in city areas for making connections between nature and the residents of cities, especially from a mental health perspective. This paper investigated how the number and types of urban parks impact city residents' mental health. Method: This study used the data collected by the Community Health Survey in Seoul, South Korea in 2020 (n=22915). The type and number of local parks were categorized based on each district, and three variables of mental health were selected, including ‘subjective health awareness’, ‘stress awareness’ and ‘depression rate’. Correlation and interaction analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between variables. Result: The data indicated that both the quantity and types of the urban parks were associated with mental health of the residents. Positive mental health is likely to be associated with higher density of local parks in a district. It seems that parks characterized by children's activity and have nature-focused design, are more effective in changing the mental health of residents. Discussion: The research demonstrates a positive relationship between the quantity of urban parks and mental health in the scale of city districts. However, such a correlation can differ based on the type of parks, as well as the quantity of greenery in an area. https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/29715Urban parkMental healthGreen areaMetropolitanSeoul
spellingShingle Kyung-A Choi
Mehdi Rezaei
Assessing the Correlation between Neighborhood Green Areas and the Perceived Mental Health of Residents in Metropolitan Areas
Iranian Journal of Public Health
Urban park
Mental health
Green area
Metropolitan
Seoul
title Assessing the Correlation between Neighborhood Green Areas and the Perceived Mental Health of Residents in Metropolitan Areas
title_full Assessing the Correlation between Neighborhood Green Areas and the Perceived Mental Health of Residents in Metropolitan Areas
title_fullStr Assessing the Correlation between Neighborhood Green Areas and the Perceived Mental Health of Residents in Metropolitan Areas
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the Correlation between Neighborhood Green Areas and the Perceived Mental Health of Residents in Metropolitan Areas
title_short Assessing the Correlation between Neighborhood Green Areas and the Perceived Mental Health of Residents in Metropolitan Areas
title_sort assessing the correlation between neighborhood green areas and the perceived mental health of residents in metropolitan areas
topic Urban park
Mental health
Green area
Metropolitan
Seoul
url https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/29715
work_keys_str_mv AT kyungachoi assessingthecorrelationbetweenneighborhoodgreenareasandtheperceivedmentalhealthofresidentsinmetropolitanareas
AT mehdirezaei assessingthecorrelationbetweenneighborhoodgreenareasandtheperceivedmentalhealthofresidentsinmetropolitanareas