TY - JOUR
T1 - Longitudinal associations of neighbourhood environmental exposures with mental health problems during adolescence
T2 - Findings from the TRAILS study
AU - Zeng, Y
AU - Stevens, G
AU - Helbich, M
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/9
Y1 - 2023/9
N2 - Background: Cross-sectional studies have found associations between neighbourhood environments and adolescent mental health, but the few longitudinal studies mainly focused on single exposure-based analyses and rarely assessed the mental health associations with environmental changes. Objectives: We assessed longitudinal within- and between-person associations of multiple neighbourhood time-varying physical and social environmental exposures with externalising and internalising problems throughout adolescence. Methods: We used four waves of TRAILS (Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey) data on self-reported externalising and internalising problems at ages 11, 13, 16, and 19 among 2,135 adolescents in the Netherlands. We measured residence-based time-varying environmental exposures, including green space, air pollution (fine particulate matter (PM2.5)), noise, deprivation, and social fragmentation. We fitted random-effect within-between regression models to assess the environment-mental health associations. Results: At the within-person level, an interquartile range (IQR) increase in PM2.5 was associated with a 0.056 IQR (95% CI: 0.014, 0.099) increase in externalising problems, while an IQR social fragmentation increase was associated with a 0.010 IQR (95% CI: −0.020, −0.001) decrease in externalising problems. Stratification revealed that the association with PM2.5 was significant only for movers, whereas the association with social fragmentation remained only for non-movers. At the between-person level, an IQR higher noise was associated with a 0.100 IQR (95% CI: 0.031, 0.169) more externalising problems, while higher deprivation (β = 0.080; 95% CI: 0.022, 0.138) and lower fragmentation (β = -0.073; 95% CI: −0.128, −0.018) were associated with more internalising problems. We also observed positive between-person associations between PM2.5, noise, and internalising problems, but both associations were unstable due to the high PM2.5-noise correlation. Further, we observed a non-linear between-person PM2.5-externalising problems association turning positive when PM2.5 > 15 µg/m3. Null associations were found for green space. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that air pollution, noise, and neighbourhood deprivation are risk factors for adolescent mental health. Not only exposure levels but also exposure changes matter for adolescent mental health.
AB - Background: Cross-sectional studies have found associations between neighbourhood environments and adolescent mental health, but the few longitudinal studies mainly focused on single exposure-based analyses and rarely assessed the mental health associations with environmental changes. Objectives: We assessed longitudinal within- and between-person associations of multiple neighbourhood time-varying physical and social environmental exposures with externalising and internalising problems throughout adolescence. Methods: We used four waves of TRAILS (Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey) data on self-reported externalising and internalising problems at ages 11, 13, 16, and 19 among 2,135 adolescents in the Netherlands. We measured residence-based time-varying environmental exposures, including green space, air pollution (fine particulate matter (PM2.5)), noise, deprivation, and social fragmentation. We fitted random-effect within-between regression models to assess the environment-mental health associations. Results: At the within-person level, an interquartile range (IQR) increase in PM2.5 was associated with a 0.056 IQR (95% CI: 0.014, 0.099) increase in externalising problems, while an IQR social fragmentation increase was associated with a 0.010 IQR (95% CI: −0.020, −0.001) decrease in externalising problems. Stratification revealed that the association with PM2.5 was significant only for movers, whereas the association with social fragmentation remained only for non-movers. At the between-person level, an IQR higher noise was associated with a 0.100 IQR (95% CI: 0.031, 0.169) more externalising problems, while higher deprivation (β = 0.080; 95% CI: 0.022, 0.138) and lower fragmentation (β = -0.073; 95% CI: −0.128, −0.018) were associated with more internalising problems. We also observed positive between-person associations between PM2.5, noise, and internalising problems, but both associations were unstable due to the high PM2.5-noise correlation. Further, we observed a non-linear between-person PM2.5-externalising problems association turning positive when PM2.5 > 15 µg/m3. Null associations were found for green space. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that air pollution, noise, and neighbourhood deprivation are risk factors for adolescent mental health. Not only exposure levels but also exposure changes matter for adolescent mental health.
KW - Adolescents
KW - Environmental exposures
KW - Externalising problems and internalising problems
KW - Mental health
KW - Neighbourhood
KW - Within-person and between-person associations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85168598415&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108142
DO - 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108142
M3 - Article
SN - 1873-6750
VL - 179
JO - Environment International
JF - Environment International
IS - 108142
M1 - 108142
ER -