Green environment and incident depression in South Africa: a geospatial analysis and mental health implications in a resource-limited setting.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Unprecedented levels of habitat transformation and rapid urbanisation are changing the way individuals interrelate with the natural environment in developing countries with high economic disparities. Although the potential benefit of green environments for mental health has been recognised, population-level evidence to this effect is scarce. We investigated the effect of green living environment in potentially countering incident depression in a nationally representative survey in South Africa.

Methods

We used panel data from the South African National Income Dynamics Study (SA-NIDS). Our study used SA-NIDS data from three waves: wave 1 (2008), wave 2 (2010), and wave 3 (2012). Households were sampled on the basis of a stratified two-stage cluster design. In the f

SUBMITTER: Tomita A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5589195 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature