The role of urban greenspace in children’s reward and punishment sensitivity

Abstract

According to Life History Theory, environments with abundant and reliable resources encourage ‘slow’ (deliberative) strategies that are low-risk and focused on long-term outcomes. Arguably, greener neighbourhoods may approximate such environments, especially in urban settings. This study used the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study to investigate the role of greenness of the child’s immediate residential area at ages 9 months and 3, 5, 7, and 11 years in reward and punishment sensitivity, measured using the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT), at age 11 years. Our sample was the children who lived in urban areas at all five time-points and with data on the CGT at the fifth (n = 5,012). Consistent with Life History Theory, we found that children in the least green areas were more likely to engage in ‘fast’ decision strategies than other children: they showed higher sensitivity to reward (or lower sensitivity to punishment). This association was robust to adjustment for confounders.