Association Between Urban Greenspace and Mental Wellbeing During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a U.S. Cohort

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic brought unprecedented socially isolating measures to mitigate the spread of disease, heightening importance public outdoor urban greenspace. Here, we investigated association between tree-rich greenspace and mental health in a large opportunity sample surveyed using crowdsourcing research website ( www.covid19resilience.org ) April 6th October 12th, 2020 during United States. Participants living U.S. N = 2,089, 83.1% females, mean age 42 years, range 18–90 years) were mapped 1,080 unique ZIP Codes tree canopy density was calculated with 250 m buffer around each Code grouped by quartile as proxy for nearby Four parameters assessed: (1) COVID-19-related worries; (2) anxiety symptoms; (3) depression (4) standardized weighted composite score all three parameters. Multivariate regression analyses multilevel models used study four outcomes, controlling participant demographics urbanicity. In entire cohort, increased showed significant protective effect (Coef. −0.27; p 0.0499), scores −0.19; 0.038) when comparing most least, no observed effects on COVID-19 related worries or individually. Stratifying suggested trends older subsets population (top quartile, over 51 years old) experiencing less −0.45; 0.048) lower −0.34; – 0.032) function Additionally, younger (second youngest 31–38 experienced −1.34; 0.022) These findings may indicate that plays role pandemic, specifically certain groups, supporting use greenspace-related strategies help burden this challenging time.