Search

Experience of nature is widely linked to well-being, including psychological restoration. Benefits to creativity have been explored in a limited number of studies which refer to theories of restorative environments as frameworks, but it is unclear which aspects of the environment and person-nature transactions are implicated in these processes. In this study, N = 20 members of the British public were interviewed regarding the relevance of natural environments for their personal and professional creative activities. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts revealed that cognitive, affective, and aesthetic appraisals were reported as directly relevant to creativity in nature, while environmental properties, sensory experiences, and the self were reported as informing these appraisals. Similarities to theories of restorative environments were observed in terms of the relevance of affect, cognition, and aesthetics. However, divergences also occurred, especially with regard to perceptions of arousal as beneficial for creativity, the importance of change in the environment, and the relevance of the self. Studies and theoretical modeling of relationships between nature and creativity should include these concepts, as well as those from theories of restorative environments.

Efforts to simultaneously address adolescent self-regulation, activity space (routine locations), and mental health represent a promising social ecological approach aimed at understanding the lives and development of urban youth. This type of examination of contextual influences on self-regulation is considered an important area of developmental research, yet one that is understudied (McCabe, Cunning ton, & Brooks-Gunn, 2004). Little is known about the self-regulatory experiences that might link specific types of locations with mental health problems, particularly with urban youth who live in areas characterized by chronic and severe stressors such as personal violence, criminal activity, and poverty. Recent research has demonstrated the "power of context" (Tolan, Gorman-Smith, Henry, Chung, & Hunt, 2002) to influence coping styles and has demonstrated that without detailed and specified knowledge of the social ecology of urban youth, measurement of critical variables and interpretation of results are likely to be misinformed (Tolan & Grant, 2009). Given the importance of understanding youth through an interactive and contextual framework (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Szapocznik & Coatsworth, 1999), the present study examined self-regulatory experiences, specified favorite locations, and mental health with urban adolescents residing in low-resource and high-risk environments. (Contains 5 tables.)

This study analyzed routine locations (activity spaces) of urban adolescents enrolled in a substance abuse treatment program to understand the relationship between their spatial lives and health outcomes such as substance use and mental health. Sixty-eight adolescents were interviewed and produced a list of 199 locations identified as most important, safe, and risky. A TwoStep Cluster analysis resulted in two mutually exclusive groups of adolescents (n = 58). Clusterwise importance analyses showed that sex, distress, anxiety, emotional problems, and drug use significantly distinguish clusters from each other. An important finding was that activity spaces vary according to the frequency of substance use and the amount of emotional problems. School was frequently perceived as a risky place--followed by friend's house and nature--for those who used alcohol and marijuana more frequently and had more emotional distress. The intersection between environment, emotion regulation, and health outcomes is discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)