Researchers assessed the association between the natural environment and asthma in 49,956 New Zealand children born in 1998 and followed up until 2016 using routinely collected data. Children who lived in greener areas, as measured by the normalized difference vegetation index, were less likely to be asthmatic.
This paper draws on findings of comparative international research on students’ poetic writing about the natural environment in the context of the classroom and a naturalistic setting. The study involved 97, nine- to 10-year-olds in four classes: two classes were in an English primary school with their counterparts in a Western Australian primary school.
Proponents of the biophilia hypothesis believe that contact with nature, including green spaces, has a crucial role in brain development in children. Currently, however, we are not aware of evidence linking such exposure with potential effects on brain structure.
Lillard et al. (2013) concluded that pretend play is not causally related to child outcomes and charged that the field is subject to a play ethos, whereby research is tainted by a bias to find positive effects of play on child development. In this commentary, we embrace their call for a more solidly scientific approach to questions in this important area of study while offering 2 critiques of their analysis.
The current study investigated the influence of a play-based curriculum on the development of pretend play skills and oral language in children attending their first year of formal schooling.
Children comprise one of the largest consumer groups of technology. Sleep is fundamental to optimal functioning during childhood, including health and behaviour. The purpose of this study was to explore bedtime electronic use and its impact on 3 health consequences—sleep quantity and quality, inattention, and body mass index.
Bedtime Use of Technology and Associated Sleep Problems in Children Read More »
This study explored 1) mothers’ and middle-childhood daughters’ attention after exposure to two different environments, and 2) their quality of family cohesion.
Defining the boundary of children’s ‘neighborhoods’ has important implications for understanding the contextual influences on child health. Additionally, insight into activities that occur outside people’s neighborhoods may indicate exposures that place-based studies cannot detect.
Researchers evaluated the association between lifelong residential exposure to green space and attention during preschool and early primary school years.
Active play is a novel approach to addressing low physical activity levels and fundamental movement skills (FMS) in children. This study aimed to determine if a new school-based, ‘Go2Play Active Play’ intervention improved school day physical activity and FMS.