Nancy M Wells
Biographic Data
| ID | 6076281 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nancy M Wells |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nancy M |
| FAMILY NAME | Wells |
| SIGNATURE | WELLS N M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Cornell University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0655-8393 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 19 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Neighborhood Greenspace, Extreme Heat Exposure, and Sleep Quality over Time among a Nationally Representative Sample of American Children
Children's sleep is essential for healthy development, yet over a third of children in the United States experience inadequate sleep. Environmental factors can influence sleep: greenspace exposure can promote better sleep, while heat exposure can disrupt sleep. As global climate change raises nighttime and daytime temperatures, greenspace may mitigate the negative effects of heat stress on sleep. We examined the direct effects of neighborhood gre…
Nature and well‐being
Numerous studies have shown the positive association between nature engagement and well‐being. During the early phases of the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic, nature engagement changed dramatically as mental health and well‐being declined across the globe. This study examines how psychological connection to nature and engagement with nature in various forms is associated with well‐being during the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic. Specifically, we examine which types of …
Gardening in Childcare Centers
This study examined the effects of a childcare gardening intervention on children's physical activity (PA). Eligible childcare centers were randomly assigned to: (1) garden intervention ( n = 5; year 1); (2) waitlist control ( n = 5; control year 1, intervention year 2); or (3) control ( n = 5; year 2 only) groups. Across the two-year study, PA was measured for 3 days at four data collection periods using Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometers. The inter…
Barriers to children’s outdoor time
Spending time in nature during childhood can improve mental and physical health, support academic success, and cultivate pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. Increasing outdoor time during school can enhance the likelihood of those outcomes for all students. However, in practice incorporating outdoor time into the school day can be challenging. This study reports on barriers identified during the development phase of an action research proj…
Research Design, Protocol, and Participant Characteristics of Coleafs
Childcare garden interventions may be an effective strategy to increase fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption and physical activity among young children. The objective of this paper is to describe the research design, protocol, outcome measures, and baseline characteristics of participants in the Childcare Outdoor Learning Environments as Active Food Systems ("COLEAFS") study, a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) examining the effect of a g…
Clinic and park partnerships for childhood resilience
Cafeteria assessment for elementary schools (Cafes)
CAFES offers a practical and low-cost measurement tool for school staff, design and public health practitioners, and researchers to identify critical areas for intervention; suggest low- and no-cost intervention strategies; and contribute to guidelines for cafeteria design, food presentation and layout, and operations aimed at promoting healthy eating among elementary school students
The Healthy Start Partnership
This article investigates the impact of community-based interventions developed by the Healthy Start Partnership (HSP) to promote healthy body weights in families. Intercept surveys were conducted to monitor community exposure. A nonconcurrent, no treatment control design was used to assess population-level weight outcomes. Control (n = 219) and intervention (n = 276) cohorts of pregnant women were recruited and followed until 6 months postpartum…
Environmental Sustainability in an Aging Society
Given the vulnerability of older persons to environmental threats detailed by the consensus conference, conferees recommended that research on these topics be urgently promoted, both by researchers and by funding agencies
Early Childhood Poverty, Cumulative Risk Exposure, and Body Mass Index Trajectories Through Young Adulthood
Objectives. We assessed whether cumulative risk exposure underlies the relation between early childhood poverty and body mass index (BMI) trajectories. Methods. We interviewed youths and their mothers in rural upstate New York (168 boys and 158 girls) from 1995 to 2006 when the youths were aged 9, 13, and 17 years. At each interview, we calculated their BMI-for-age percentile. Results. Early childhood poverty predicted BMI growth trajectories fro…
Nature and the Life Course
This paper examines connections between childhood involvement with the natural environment and adult environmentalism from a life course perspective. Approximately 2,000 adults age 18–90 living in urban areas throughout the United States were interviewed with respect to their childhood nature experiences and their current, adult attitudes and behaviors relating to the environment. Model testing and cross-validation procedures using structural equ…
Nearby Nature
Identifying mechanisms that buffer children from life's stress and adversity is an important empirical and practical concern. This study focuses on nature as a buffer of life stress among rural children. To examine whether vegetation near the residential environment might buffer or moderate the impact of stressful life events on children's psychological well-being, data were collected from 337 rural children in Grades 3 through 5 (mean age=9.2 ye…
Housing and Mental Health
Despite the fact that people invest more financial, temporal, and psychological resources in their homes than in any other material entity, research on housing and mental health is remarkably underdeveloped. We critically review existing research on housing and mental health, considering housing type (e.g., single‐family detached versus multiple dwelling), floor level, and housing quality (e.g., structural damage). We then discuss methodological …
Housing quality and mental health.
At Home with Nature
The nearby natural environment plays a far more significant role in the well-being of children residing in poor urban environments than has previously been recognized. Using a premove/postmove longitudinal design, this research rules out the effects of various extraneous variables that have plagued previous studies and explores the linkage between the naturalness or restorativeness of the home environment and the cognitive functioning of low-inco…
Early Childhood Poverty, Cumulative Risk Exposure, and Body Mass Index Trajectories Through Young Adulthood
Objectives. We assessed whether cumulative risk exposure underlies the relation between early childhood poverty and body mass index (BMI) trajectories. Methods. We interviewed youths and their mothers in rural upstate New York (168 boys and 158 girls) from 1995 to 2006 when the youths were aged 9, 13, and 17 years. At each interview, we calculated their BMI-for-age percentile. Results. Early childhood poverty predicted BMI growth trajectories fro…
Environmental Sustainability in an Aging Society
Given the vulnerability of older persons to environmental threats detailed by the consensus conference, conferees recommended that research on these topics be urgently promoted, both by researchers and by funding agencies
Barriers to children’s outdoor time
Spending time in nature during childhood can improve mental and physical health, support academic success, and cultivate pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. Increasing outdoor time during school can enhance the likelihood of those outcomes for all students. However, in practice incorporating outdoor time into the school day can be challenging. This study reports on barriers identified during the development phase of an action research proj…
Clinic and park partnerships for childhood resilience
Housing quality and mental health.
At Home with Nature
The nearby natural environment plays a far more significant role in the well-being of children residing in poor urban environments than has previously been recognized. Using a premove/postmove longitudinal design, this research rules out the effects of various extraneous variables that have plagued previous studies and explores the linkage between the naturalness or restorativeness of the home environment and the cognitive functioning of low-inco…
Nearby Nature
Identifying mechanisms that buffer children from life's stress and adversity is an important empirical and practical concern. This study focuses on nature as a buffer of life stress among rural children. To examine whether vegetation near the residential environment might buffer or moderate the impact of stressful life events on children's psychological well-being, data were collected from 337 rural children in Grades 3 through 5 (mean age=9.2 ye…
Housing and Mental Health
Despite the fact that people invest more financial, temporal, and psychological resources in their homes than in any other material entity, research on housing and mental health is remarkably underdeveloped. We critically review existing research on housing and mental health, considering housing type (e.g., single‐family detached versus multiple dwelling), floor level, and housing quality (e.g., structural damage). We then discuss methodological …
Nature and the Life Course
This paper examines connections between childhood involvement with the natural environment and adult environmentalism from a life course perspective. Approximately 2,000 adults age 18–90 living in urban areas throughout the United States were interviewed with respect to their childhood nature experiences and their current, adult attitudes and behaviors relating to the environment. Model testing and cross-validation procedures using structural equ…
Environmental Sustainability in an Aging Society
Given the vulnerability of older persons to environmental threats detailed by the consensus conference, conferees recommended that research on these topics be urgently promoted, both by researchers and by funding agencies
Early Childhood Poverty, Cumulative Risk Exposure, and Body Mass Index Trajectories Through Young Adulthood
Objectives. We assessed whether cumulative risk exposure underlies the relation between early childhood poverty and body mass index (BMI) trajectories. Methods. We interviewed youths and their mothers in rural upstate New York (168 boys and 158 girls) from 1995 to 2006 when the youths were aged 9, 13, and 17 years. At each interview, we calculated their BMI-for-age percentile. Results. Early childhood poverty predicted BMI growth trajectories fro…
The Healthy Start Partnership
This article investigates the impact of community-based interventions developed by the Healthy Start Partnership (HSP) to promote healthy body weights in families. Intercept surveys were conducted to monitor community exposure. A nonconcurrent, no treatment control design was used to assess population-level weight outcomes. Control (n = 219) and intervention (n = 276) cohorts of pregnant women were recruited and followed until 6 months postpartum…
Cafeteria assessment for elementary schools (Cafes)
CAFES offers a practical and low-cost measurement tool for school staff, design and public health practitioners, and researchers to identify critical areas for intervention; suggest low- and no-cost intervention strategies; and contribute to guidelines for cafeteria design, food presentation and layout, and operations aimed at promoting healthy eating among elementary school students
Clinic and park partnerships for childhood resilience
Research Design, Protocol, and Participant Characteristics of Coleafs
Childcare garden interventions may be an effective strategy to increase fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption and physical activity among young children. The objective of this paper is to describe the research design, protocol, outcome measures, and baseline characteristics of participants in the Childcare Outdoor Learning Environments as Active Food Systems ("COLEAFS") study, a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) examining the effect of a g…
Barriers to children’s outdoor time
Spending time in nature during childhood can improve mental and physical health, support academic success, and cultivate pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. Increasing outdoor time during school can enhance the likelihood of those outcomes for all students. However, in practice incorporating outdoor time into the school day can be challenging. This study reports on barriers identified during the development phase of an action research proj…
Nature and well‐being
Numerous studies have shown the positive association between nature engagement and well‐being. During the early phases of the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic, nature engagement changed dramatically as mental health and well‐being declined across the globe. This study examines how psychological connection to nature and engagement with nature in various forms is associated with well‐being during the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic. Specifically, we examine which types of …
Gardening in Childcare Centers
This study examined the effects of a childcare gardening intervention on children's physical activity (PA). Eligible childcare centers were randomly assigned to: (1) garden intervention ( n = 5; year 1); (2) waitlist control ( n = 5; control year 1, intervention year 2); or (3) control ( n = 5; year 2 only) groups. Across the two-year study, PA was measured for 3 days at four data collection periods using Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometers. The inter…
Neighborhood Greenspace, Extreme Heat Exposure, and Sleep Quality over Time among a Nationally Representative Sample of American Children
Children's sleep is essential for healthy development, yet over a third of children in the United States experience inadequate sleep. Environmental factors can influence sleep: greenspace exposure can promote better sleep, while heat exposure can disrupt sleep. As global climate change raises nighttime and daytime temperatures, greenspace may mitigate the negative effects of heat stress on sleep. We examined the direct effects of neighborhood gre…
Psychology (11 works) · Medicine (9 works) · Urban Green Space and Health (8 works) · Developmental psychology (5 works) · Gerontology (5 works) · Mental health (5 works) · Nursing (5 works) · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet (5 works) · Psychiatry (5 works) · Applied Psychology (4 works)