Link of outdoor exposure in daycare with attentional control and academic achievement in adolescence: Examining cognitive and social pathways

The study investigated how time spent outdoors in kindergarten affects attention control and school performance in early adolescence. The study also investigated whether these relationships were direct or indirect, either through better working memory and less inattention and hyperactivity in the children (cognitive pathway) or through increased prosocial behaviour and higher acceptance among peers (social pathway) at the start of school.

The study showed a direct positive correlation between time spent outdoors in kindergarten and attention control during adolescence, as well as an indirect cognitive correlation where time spent outdoors in kindergarten influenced academic performance in adolescence through improved working memory in early childhood. The study concluded that time spent outdoors can be a simple way of strengthening children’s social, cognitive and academic skills, with possible long-term benefits.

The researchers conducted a longitudinal study of 555 children who were assessed five times over the course of 10 years. The children were between 12 and 78 months old at the start of the study. During the first four phases (2006-2009), while the children were still in kindergarten, they were interviewed individually about friendships, social relationships, behaviour and factors that affected them. Parents and teachers completed questionnaires about family relationships and the children’s behaviour. Kindergarten coordinators were interviewed about kindergarten quality and outdoor activity, and the children’s working memory was assessed using a digit span test. In 2016, when the children were between the ages of 12 and 16, data were collected from the adolescents and their parents via questionnaires. In addition, national test results for mathematics and reading were obtained from Statistics Norway. The study included children from 28 kindergartens in two municipalities north of Oslo.

Ulset, V. S., Borge, A. I., Vitaro, F., Brendgen, M., & Bekkhus, M. (2023). Link of outdoor exposure in daycare with attentional control and academic achievement in adolescence: Examining cognitive and social pathways. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 85, 101942.

Online year: 2022

Issue year: 2023

Review year: 2022