Association of the Built Environment With Childhood Psychosocial Stress

Abstract

IMPORTANCE Emerging research suggests that factors associated with the built environment, including artificial light, air pollution, and noise, may adversely affect children's mental health, while living near green space may reduce stress. Little is known about the combined roles of these factors on children's stress. OBJECTIVE To investigate associations between components of the built environment with personal and home characteristics in a large cohort of children who were assessed for perceived stress. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In this cohort study, a total of 2290 Southern California Children's Health Study participants residing in 8 densely populated urban communities responded to detailed questionnaires. Exposures of artificial light at night (ALAN) derived from satellite observations, near-roadway air pollution (NRP) determined from a dispersion model, noise estimated from the US Traffic Noise Model, and green space from satellite observations of the enhanced vegetation index were linked to each participant's geocoded residence. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Children's stress was assessed at ages 13 to 14 years and 15 to 16 years using the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4), scaled from 0 to 16, with higher scores indicating greater perceived stress. Measurements were conducted in 2010 and 2012, and data were analyzed from February 6 to August 24, 2019. Multivariate mixed-effects models were used to examine multiple exposures; modification and mediation analyses were also conducted. RESULTS Among the 2290 children in this study, 1149 were girls (50%); mean (SD) age was 13.5 (0.6) years. Girls had significantly higher perceived stress measured by PSS-4 (mean [SD] score, 5.7 [3.4]) than boys (4.9 [3.2]). With increasing age (from 13.5 [0.6] to 15.3 [0.6] years), the mean PSS-4 score rose from 5.6 (3.3) to 6.0 (3.4) in girls but decreased for boys from 5.0 (3.2) to 4.7 (3.1). Multivariate mixed-effects models examining multiple exposures indicated that exposure to secondhand smoke in the home was associated with a 0.85 (95% CI, 0.46-1.24) increase in the PSS-4 score. Of the factors related to the physical environment, an interquartile range (IQR) increase in ALAN was associated with a 0.57 (95% CI, 0.05-1.09) unit increase in the PSS-4 score together with a 0.16 score increase per IQR increase of near-roadway air pollution (95% CI, 0.02-0.30) and a −0.24 score decrease per IQR increase of the enhanced vegetation index (95% CI, −0.45 to −0.04). Income modified the ALAN effect size estimate; participants in households earning less than $48 000 per year had significantly greater stress per IQR increase in ALAN. Sleep duration partially mediated the associations between stress and both enhanced vegetation index (17%) and ALAN (18%). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this cohort study, children's exposure to smoke at home in addition to residential exposure to ALAN and near-roadway air pollution were associated with increased perceived stress among young adolescent children. These associations appeared to be pa...

How Does Urban Green Space Impact Residents’ Mental Health: A Literature Review of Mediators

“…Urban green spaces will reduce residents' sensitivity to stress [24,42,61]. These results may provide a theoretical basis for green space to reduce environmental pollution and improve residents' mental health [26].…”

“…A direct mediator refers to promoting mental health through the characteristics of plants themselves (such as improving air quality, absorbing noise, and visual stimulation), which is summarized as "environmental factors". Indirect mediators focus on the use of green space [26,31,64]. On the one hand, green space can provide places for outdoor sports and social communication and attract residents to engage in outdoor activities, which is summarized as "outdoor activity" [28,32,33].…”

“…From an objective point of view, some of the characteristics of green plants themselves directly affect the residents. On the one hand, green space can reduce physical damage to the residents [26,76]. On the other hand, greenery can increase the visual stimulation of the residents [31,64,77].…”

“…Gascon et al [27] suggested green space has a potential protective effect on mental health (depression and anxiety) in adults, mediated in part by air pollution and, to a lesser extent, noise exposure. Franklin et al [26] indicated that people's exposure to smoke at home and residential exposure to artificial light at night and near-roadway air pollution were associated with increased perceived stress. These connections seem to be partly mitigated by more residential green space.…”

Le chemin de l’école : un tiers-lieu vecteur d’apprentissages pour les enfants ?

“…Dans un environnement présentant des niveaux élevés de circulation, de bruit et essentiellement caractérisé par du minéral (voir Legendre, 2011), l'attention et le regard de l'enfant sont principalement dirigés sur les dangers potentiels de la ville et du trajet même plutôt que sur l'espace environnant, dans une visée de découverte. Cette attention constante sur ce qui peut arriver engendre du stress chez les jeunes usagers et usagères de la route (voir Dreger et al, 2015 ;Franklin et al, 2020). Ce stress doit ensuite être évacué à l'école à la maison, en amont d'un processus d'apprentissage.…”