Summary: A new study established the first timeline tracking how early-life outdoor play protects children’s mental health across development. The research demonstrates that children who play outdoors frequently between the ages of two and four are significantly more likely to maintain low levels of emotional and behavioral difficulties through middle childhood (age eight).
By analyzing data from thousands of youth, investigators revealed an incremental statistical shield against anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity, emphasizing the need for public health and planning policies to protect informal play spaces and parks.
Key Facts
- The First Longitudinal Play Audit: While prior research has linked nature to pediatric mental health, this project represents the first study to explore how preschool outdoor play directly relates to a child’s mental health trajectory over time.
- The 4,151-Child Dataset: In collaboration with the University of Glasgow, University College London, and the Complutense University of Madrid, researchers analyzed tracking data from 4,151 children enrolled in the Growing Up in Scotland cohort dataset.
- The Incremental Play Benefit: The results unmasked a clear mathematical advantage: for each additional day a child plays outdoors during a typical week in their preschool years, the odds of that child maintaining a healthy, low-symptom mental health profile through to age eight increase by 6% to 14%.
- Symptom Domain Shielding: Early outdoor play patterns predicted lower trajectories for both internalizing symptoms (such as anxiety and depression) and externalizing symptoms (including problem behaviors like aggression, impulsivity, and hyperactivity).
- Isolation of Confounding Variables: To confirm that outdoor play was the driving mechanism, the research team statistically controlled for child sex, ethnicity, household education level, childhood physical conditions, parental employment status, and physical access to private gardens or neighborhood parks.
- A Low-Cost Public Health Mandate: Lead investigator Professor Helen Dodd stresses that providing outdoor play opportunities is a simple, low-cost early intervention strategy. The authors call on governments and local authorities to secure funding for public parks, playground maintenance, and informal play spaces, which are vital for families lacking access to private gardens.
Source: University of Exeter
Children who spend more time playing outdoors between the ages of two and four may be less likely to develop emotional and behavioural difficulties later in childhood.
That’s according to new research led by the University of Exeter, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Previous studies have shown a link between outdoor play and children’s mental health, but this is the first study to explore how outdoor play in the early years relates to children’s mental health over time.
Most children have low levels of mental health difficulties that stay low across childhood, but some increasingly experience difficulties with their mental health and others have difficulties from an early age. These new findings suggest the more often children play outdoors as preschoolers, the more likely it is that their mental health problems will be low through to middle childhood (aged eight).
Researchers analysed data from 4,151 children from the Growing Up in Scotland cohort dataset and looked at symptoms of mental health when children were aged four, five, six, and eight years old. This included externalising symptoms – which are problem behaviours such as aggression, impulsivity and hyperactivity – and internalising symptoms such as anxiety and depression.
The research found those who played outdoors more frequently at ages two, three and four were more likely to remain in a low-symptom, good mental health group through to middle childhood. Specifically, the results showed that for each additional day that a child plays outdoors in a typical week during the preschool years, the odds of that child having a healthy profile of mental health symptoms through to age eight increases by between six and 14 per cent.
Professor Helen Dodd from the University of Exeter led the study and said: “Our findings suggest that providing young children with more opportunities to play outside could be a simple, low-cost way to support better mental health and should be considered within public health, education and planning policies.
“This includes providing adequate funding for the provision and maintenance of playgrounds and protection for the range of spaces that children and families use for play, which include informal spaces close to home, parks and other green spaces. These public spaces are especially important for people without access to a garden.”
To isolate the effect of outdoor play, the researchers controlled for a range of other related variables including child sex, ethnicity, highest education level within household, number of physical conditions that the child experiences, working status of parents, and whether the family had access to a park within ten minutes of home and/or access to a garden.
Marguerite Hunter Blair OBE, chair of the UK Children’s Play Policy Forum, welcomed the study and said: “These findings clearly demonstrate the importance of play-based early interventions that can have a long-lasting positive impact on preschool children’s mental health.
“This evidence shows that our young children will benefit significantly from more play opportunities and better spaces to play. To support this, governments and local authorities must build outdoor play into key policies and work with communities to create and improve these essential play spaces.”
The paper titled ‘Early Outdoor Play Predicts Trajectories of Child Mental Health in a Population-Based Cohort’ is published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Funding: The study, in collaboration with the University of Glasgow, University College London, and Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, was supported by funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Key Questions Answered:
A: The math shows a powerful compounding effect. For every single additional day per week a child plays outside between the ages of two and four, their odds of maintaining a healthy mental profile with low behavioral and emotional problems through age eight go up by 6% to 14%.
A: The researchers isolated the specific effect of outdoor play. They filtered out a wide range of family variables, including parental employment status, household education level, child sex, ethnicity, physical conditions, and even whether the family had a private garden or lived right next to a park.
A: Because public spaces act as an essential health equalizer. Professor Helen Dodd points out that public parks, playgrounds, and informal green spaces close to home are vital early-intervention tools for families who do not have the luxury of a private backyard garden.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- Journal paper reviewed in full.
- Additional context added by our staff.
About this neurodevelopment and mental health research news
Author: Louise Vennells
Source: University of Exeter
Contact: Louise Vennells – University of Exeter
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Early Outdoor Play Predicts Trajectories of Child Mental Health in a Population-Based Cohort” by Helen F. Dodd, Kirsty Cordwell, Kathryn Hesketh, Avril Johnstone, Alejandro de la Torre-Luque, Paul McCrorie. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
DOI:10.1111/jcpp.70175
Abstract
Early Outdoor Play Predicts Trajectories of Child Mental Health in a Population-Based Cohort
Background
Outdoor play may offer developmental opportunities that support good mental health. Cross-sectional data indicate that more outdoor play is associated with better mental health, particularly internalising problems (e.g. anxiety and depression), but longitudinal research is lacking. We used a longitudinal cohort dataset to evaluate whether outdoor play at 2–4 years predicted children’s mental health trajectories into middle childhood.
Methods
Data were from the Growing up in Scotland dataset. Parents/caregivers were asked how many days their child had played outside over the previous week when children were aged ~2, 3 and 4 years. When the children were aged ~4, 5, 6 and 8 years, parents/caregivers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire measure of child mental health. We used growth mixture modelling (GMM) to identify trajectories over time for internalising and externalising symptoms separately. Next, we used multilevel multinomial regression to evaluate whether early outdoor play predicted trajectory classification.
Results
The analysis sample included 4,151 children. A three-class solution was optimal for internalising and externalising symptoms. The three trajectory groups differed on both symptom level at age 4 and slope as follows: normative (low with stable trajectory); increasing (moderate with increasing trajectory); decreasing (high with decreasing trajectory). After controlling for covariates, outdoor play significantly predicted trajectory class; children who played outdoors more often as preschoolers had significantly decreased odds (p < .001) of belonging to the increasing or decreasing trajectory groups, relative to the normative group, for internalising (increasing: OR = 0.92, decreasing: OR = 0.88) and externalising (increasing: OR = 0.94, decreasing: OR = 0.94) symptoms.
Conclusions
This study uses nationally representative longitudinal data and provides the first evidence that early outdoor play predicts mental health trajectories across childhood. A key limitation is reliance on parent-report measures. The findings indicate that increasing outdoor play may be a useful public health approach to reduce child mental health problems.
