A study led by the University of Exeter asked parents how often their children engaged in play that was “thrilling and exciting”, where they might experience some fear and uncertainty.
The study comes at a time when children have less opportunity for adventurous play out of sight of adults, such as climbing trees, riding bikes, or jumping from high surfaces. The study sought to test theories that adventurous play offers learning opportunities that help build resilience (韧性) in children, therefore helping to prevent mental health problems.
Researchers surveyed two groups of parents of children aged five to eleven: a group of 427 parents in Northern Ireland and a nationally representative group of 1, 919 parents in England, Wales and Scotland. Parents completed questions about their child’s play, their general mental health (pre-COVID) and their moods during the first COVID-19 lockdown.
Researchers found that children who spent more time playing outside had fewer “internalizing problems”, characterized as anxiety and depression, and were also more positive during the first lockdown. The effects were relatively small, as would be expected given the range of factors that affect children’s mental health, However, results were consistent even after researchers factored in a wide range of variables including child sex, age, parent employment status and parent mental health. The study in the larger group also found that the effect was more obvious in children from lower income families than those growing up in higher income households.
Belinda Kirk, an explorer, welcomed the findings on adventurous play. “It’s a normal instinct to want to protect your children, which I have in bountiful amounts. But we live in a world that is so obsessed (痴迷的) with physical safety that we’ve forgotten to balance it with mental health. We’ve prioritized physical safety or physical health over mental health, so we’re not letting kids fall down and learn to pick themselves up again, and therefore build up coping mechanisms and resilience,” she said.
Helen Dodd, Professor of Child Psychology at the University of Exeter, who led the study, said, “We’re more concerned than ever about children’s mental health, and our findings highlight that we might be able to protect children’s mental health by ensuring they have plentiful opportunities for adventurous play. This is really positive because play is free, instinctive and rewarding for children, and doesn’t require special skills. We now urgently need to invest in and protect natural spaces, well-designed parks and adventure playgrounds to support the mental health of our children.”
【小题1】What does the study focus on?| A．The variety of adventurous activities. |
| B．Why children should engage more in outdoor play. |
| C．The relationship between adventurous play and mental health. |
| D．How to guarantee children’s safety when they play outside. |
| A．The results of the two groups are different. |
| B．The participants are from all over the world. |
| C．It surveyed the children’s mental states in a period of time. |
| D．It found playing outside had greater effects on children than other factors. |
| A．Adventurous play is not recommended to young children. |
| B．We often neglect to maintain children’s mental health. |
| C．It’s urgent to build children’s resilience to stress. |
| D．Falling down may do great harm to children. |
| A．A suggestion for future studies. |
| B．A major limitation of the study. |
| C．An insight into the results of this study. |
| D．An accepted explanation for the research findings. |
