Neighbourhood greenspaces and mental wellbeing among university students in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online survey under lockdown

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic mobility and socialization restrictions and the switch to online learning impacted the day-to-day life of university students in England, a group previously identified as at risk for low wellbeing. In April–May 2021, during the tail end of the third ‘lockdown’ in England, we implemented an online questionnaire to better understand mental wellbeing in relationship to use of outdoor green space among university students. This article presents the results from 424 responses collected across 4 universities in Oxford and Southampton. Analyses include descriptive results of indicators and hierarchical multiple linear regression models. Findings revealed that quality of greenspace had a greater importance on mental wellbeing than use and quantity of greenspace, even when controlling for sociodemographic factors. Also, neighbourhood greenspace quality contributed to wellbeing above and beyond sociodemographc, physical activity and social support. This result held true even among students with prior mental health difficulties. Findings underscore the importance of greenspace access for wellbeing. Neighbourhoods and university campuses should be planned with the notion in mind that greenspace matters and contributes to health.

HIGHLIGHTS

• No gender differences were identified in mental wellbeing.

• Access to quality greenspaces appears to be more important for wellbeing than quantity.

• Greenspace quality was a significant predictor of positive mental wellbeing above and beyond physical activity and social connectedness.

KEYWORDS:

• Wellbeing
• greenspace
• COVID-19
• survey
• university students
• England

This article is related to:

Research for city practice

Acknowledgements

AL is supported by a scholarship from the Canadian Foundation Baxter and Alma Ricard. We want to thank an anonymous reviewer for their constructive and insightful comments which helped improve the manuscript greatly.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

The research team is composed of an interdisciplinary group of academic experts in the fields of health geography, psychology, epidemiology, urban planning, and social policy, established across both the University of Oxford and the University of Southampton. Our interests converge at the nexus of human-environment interactions in health and wellbeing.

Data availability statement

Due to the sensitive nature of the questions asked in this study, survey respondents were assured raw data would remain confidential and would not be shared.

Credit authorship contribution statement

Anaïs Lemyre Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.

Jane P. Messina – Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing.

Emma Palmer-Cooper – Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing.

Benjamin W. Chrisinger Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2023.2282851

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a small research grant from the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford.