The Relationship between Natural Park Usage and Happiness Does Not Hold in a Tropical City-State.
Previous studies have shown that contact with urban green spaces can produce positive effects on people's stress, health and well-being levels. However, much of this research has been conducted in the temperate regions of Europe or North America. Additionally, most studies have only compared th...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2015-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4519055?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1819020894797824000 |
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| author | Le E Saw Felix K S Lim Luis R Carrasco |
| author_facet | Le E Saw Felix K S Lim Luis R Carrasco |
| author_sort | Le E Saw |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Previous studies have shown that contact with urban green spaces can produce positive effects on people's stress, health and well-being levels. However, much of this research has been conducted in the temperate regions of Europe or North America. Additionally, most studies have only compared the effects of urban and natural areas on health and well-being, but not made a finer distinction between different types of urban green spaces. We tested the relationship between well-being and the access or use of different types of green spaces among young adults in Singapore, a tropical city-state. The results showed that extraversion and emotional stability increased subjective well-being, positive affect and life satisfaction and decreased stress and negative affect. In addition, we found that level of physical activity increased positive affect and health problems increased negative affect. Neither access to green spaces nor the use of green spaces in Singapore significantly affected the well-being metrics considered, contradicting findings in the temperate regions of the world. We hypothesize that the differences in temperature and humidity and the higher greenery and biodiversity levels outside parks in Singapore could explain this phenomenon. Our results thus question the universality of the relationship between well-being and park usage and highlight the need for more research into the multifaceted effects of green spaces on well-being in the tropics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T03:58:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c0b787d3f9ec4ba0916c0e99af9be62f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T03:58:28Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-c0b787d3f9ec4ba0916c0e99af9be62f2022-12-21T19:16:46ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-01107e013378110.1371/journal.pone.0133781The Relationship between Natural Park Usage and Happiness Does Not Hold in a Tropical City-State.Le E SawFelix K S LimLuis R CarrascoPrevious studies have shown that contact with urban green spaces can produce positive effects on people's stress, health and well-being levels. However, much of this research has been conducted in the temperate regions of Europe or North America. Additionally, most studies have only compared the effects of urban and natural areas on health and well-being, but not made a finer distinction between different types of urban green spaces. We tested the relationship between well-being and the access or use of different types of green spaces among young adults in Singapore, a tropical city-state. The results showed that extraversion and emotional stability increased subjective well-being, positive affect and life satisfaction and decreased stress and negative affect. In addition, we found that level of physical activity increased positive affect and health problems increased negative affect. Neither access to green spaces nor the use of green spaces in Singapore significantly affected the well-being metrics considered, contradicting findings in the temperate regions of the world. We hypothesize that the differences in temperature and humidity and the higher greenery and biodiversity levels outside parks in Singapore could explain this phenomenon. Our results thus question the universality of the relationship between well-being and park usage and highlight the need for more research into the multifaceted effects of green spaces on well-being in the tropics.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4519055?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Le E Saw Felix K S Lim Luis R Carrasco The Relationship between Natural Park Usage and Happiness Does Not Hold in a Tropical City-State. PLoS ONE |
| title | The Relationship between Natural Park Usage and Happiness Does Not Hold in a Tropical City-State. |
| title_full | The Relationship between Natural Park Usage and Happiness Does Not Hold in a Tropical City-State. |
| title_fullStr | The Relationship between Natural Park Usage and Happiness Does Not Hold in a Tropical City-State. |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Relationship between Natural Park Usage and Happiness Does Not Hold in a Tropical City-State. |
| title_short | The Relationship between Natural Park Usage and Happiness Does Not Hold in a Tropical City-State. |
| title_sort | relationship between natural park usage and happiness does not hold in a tropical city state |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4519055?pdf=render |
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