A quasi-experimental study on the impact of park accessibility on the mental health of undergraduate students |
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| Institution: | 1. The Centre for Modern Chinese City Studies, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China;2. Research Center for China Administrative Division, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China;3. Future City Lab, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China;4. Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China;5. Faculty of Land Resources Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, China;1. Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA;2. Department of Geography, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR, USA;3. Urban Forestry Division, District Department of Transportation, Washington DC, USA;1. Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4;2. North Carolina State Extension and Union County Planning Department, 500 N. Main St., Monroe, NC 28112, United States;3. College of Natural Resources, University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, 800 Reserve St., Stevens Point, WI 54481, United States;4. Department of Environmental Science and Studies Department, DePaul University, 1110 West Belden Ave, Chicago, IL 60614, United States;1. Department of Land Management, School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China;2. Department of Urban Development and Management, School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China;1. Department of Subtropical Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of the Ryukyus, 1 Senbaru, Nishihara Town, Okinawa Prefecture 903-0213, Japan;2. The United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Kagoshima University, 1-21-24, Korimoto, Kagoshima 890-0065, Japan;1. University of Connecticut, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Storrs, CT 06269, USA;2. University of Connecticut, Department of Allied Health Sciences, Storrs, CT 06269 USA |
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| Abstract: | Public mental health issues have gained growing attention from academics and policymakers due to their increasing prevalence and multiple adverse and severe consequences. Although some studies have supported the benefits of parks on mental health, the causal relationship between park accessibility and mental health remains unclear. By converting a large cross-sectional sample of 22,060 undergraduates nationwide in China into a quasi-panel dataset, this study untangled the causal impact of park accessibility on mental health benefits. We employed a quasi-experimental research design and used a difference-in-difference (DID) model to estimate the causal effects of park accessibility on depression symptoms within varying buffer sizes (i.e., 0.5 km, 1 km, 1.5 km, and 2 km). Furthermore, propensity score matching (PSM) and the Heckman selection model were employed to mitigate the selection bias caused by the prior differences of the treatment group and the control group. The results revealed that park accessibility had a positive effect on mental health and that its influence decreased with increased buffer sizes. Regarding the gender and living-cost differences, park accessibility within the 0.5 km and 1 km buffers had a greater mental health impact on females than on males, and it had a greater impact on high-living cost undergraduates than on low-living cost undergraduates. To increase the mental health benefits of undergraduate students, this study suggests that the provision of parks within a 1 km radius buffer surrounding the campus should be a priority to improve the mental health of undergraduates. |
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| Keywords: | Causality Green space Mental health Modifiable areal unit problem Difference-indifference model Propensity score matching |
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