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Exposure to natural environments may benefit child mental wellbeing whilst offering a lever to reduce health inequalities. However, understanding of these relationships is limited by evidence from indirect measures of exposure. We objectively measured children’s direct use of natural environments—and use in low or high physical activity (PA) states—and associated this with their mental wellbeing. We then examined moderation by sex and household income.Using global positioning system and accelerometry data from children (n = 640), we measured mean daily time in natural environments (‘total use’), which we stratified by PA level as ‘passive use’ (sedentary and light PA) and ‘active use’ (moderate and vigorous PA). Logistic regression associated exposures with dichotomised Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire outcomes (internalising difficulties; externalising difficulties; prosocial behaviour), with interactions to examine moderation.A 10-minute increase in total use was associated with 10.5 % lower risk of abnormal internalising outcomes (OR: 0.895; 95 % CI 0.809, 0.990), and 13.2 % lower risk of abnormal externalising outcomes (OR: 0.868; 95 % CI 0.776, 0.990). This suggests that ∼ 60 min of daily total use was associated with 50 % lower risk of abnormal internalising and externalising outcomes. The relative effects of passive and active use were equal, but their associations were moderated by income independently for specific outcomes. For externalising outcomes, the risk of abnormal scores in lower-income children reduced as passive use increased (P = 0.027) but remained constant for higher-income children. For prosocial outcomes, the likelihood of normal scores increased with active use in lower-income children, but not higher-income children (P = 0.005). Sex did not moderate these associations.The findings suggest that targeted interventions supporting disadvantaged children to use natural environments could help address inequalities in mental wellbeing. Further, the moderated associations with types of use suggest the equigenic effects of natural environments may operate through multiple pathways.

There has been a growing interest in policies that encourage local living by promoting accessible and walkable communities, such as the 20-minute neighborhood concept. Despite the widespread adoption of this policy worldwide, little research has been conducted on the characteristics of children's 20-minute neighborhoods and their association with time spent locally.This study aimed to explore the features of Scottish children's 20-minute neighborhoods by analysing an 800 m road and path network buffer surrounding 687 children's homes. Based on existing literature, the study identified key features associated with children's time spent locally and the 20-minute neighborhood policy. The study then examined variations in these features by socioeconomic status, urbanicity, and gender.The findings revealed significant inequalities in the presence of health-benefiting (e.g., green spaces, recreational facilities, healthy food outlets) and health-harming (e.g., major roads, unhealthy commodity retailers) environments within children's 20-minute neighborhoods. Children from more deprived areas had access to more of both types of environments. The study also found that having a school within a 20-minute neighborhood was associated with an increased amount of time spent locally (IRR 1.62, 95% CI 1.5 to 1.8, p

Introduction: The natural environment may benefit children's social, emotional and behavioural wellbeing, whilst offering a lever to narrow socioeconomic health inequalities. We investigated whether immediate neighbourhood natural space and private gardens were related to children's wellbeing outcomes and whether these relationships were moderated by household income.Methods: A nationally representative sample of 774 children (55% female, 10/11 years old) from the Studying Physical Activity in Children's Environments across Scotland study. Social, emotional and behavioural difficulty scores (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) represented wellbeing outcomes. Percentage of total natural space and private gardens within 100m of the child's residence was quantified using Ordnance Survey's MasterMap Topography Layer®. Linear regression, including interaction terms, explored the two main research questions.Results: A 10% increase in residential natural space was associated with a 0.08 reduction (-0.15, -0.01; 95%CI) in Emotional Problem scores and a 0.09 improvement (0.02, 0.16; 95%CI) in Prosocial Behaviour scores. Household income moderated the associations between % natural space and private gardens on Prosocial Behaviour scores: for natural space, there was a positive relationship for those in the lowest income quintile (0.25 (0.09, 0.41; 95%CI)) and a null relationship for those in the highest quintile (-0.07 (-0.16, 0.02; 95%CI)). For private garden space, there was a positive relationship for those in the highest quintile (0.15 (0.05, 0.26; 95%CI)) and negative relationship with those in the lowest quintile (-0.30 (-0.50, -0.07, 95%CI)).Conclusion: The natural environment could be a lever to benefit those from less advantaged backgrounds, particularly the development of prosocial behaviours.