
This article offers an overview of what has been done until now on restorative research with children and opens up new inquires for future research. Most of the work has studied children's exposure to nature and the restorative benefits this contact provides, focusing on the renewal of children's psychological resources. The paper begins with an introduction to children's current tendency toward an alienation from the natural world and sets out the objectives of the article. It is followed by four main sections. The first two sections report on what we already know in this research area, distinguishing between children with normal mental capabilities and those suffering from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The findings gathered in these sections suggest that children's contact with nature improves their mood and their cognitive functioning, increases their social interactions and reduces ADHD symptoms. The next section describes five suggestions for future research: (1) the need for considering the relational dynamics between the child and the environment in restoration research, and the concept of constrained restoration; (2) the possibility of restorative needs arising from understimulation; (3) the importance of considering children's social context for restoration; (4) the relationship between restoration and pro-social and pro-environmental behaviors; and (5) children's restorative environments other than nature. We close by making some final remarks about the importance of restoring daily depleted resources for children's healthy functioning.
Stress recovery, Interdependencies, understimulation, Psychology, Experience of nature, Constrained restoration, Mental Fatigue, BF1-990
Stress recovery, Interdependencies, understimulation, Psychology, Experience of nature, Constrained restoration, Mental Fatigue, BF1-990
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 43 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Top 10% | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% |
