Department of Psychology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
Int J Biometeorol. 2011 May;55(3):327-37. doi: 10.1007/s00484-010-0340-2. Epub 2010 Jul 7.
This study aimed to analyze the impact of winter weather conditions on young children's behavior and affective states by examining a group of 61 children attending day-care centers in Florence (Italy). Participants were 33 males, 28 females and their 11 teachers. The mean age of the children at the beginning of the observation period was 24.1 months. The day-care teachers observed the children's behavioral and emotional states during the morning before their sleeping time and filled in a questionnaire for each baby five times over a winter period of 3 weeks. Air temperature, relative humidity, air pressure and solar radiation data were collected every 15 min from a weather station located in the city center of Florence. At the same time, air temperature and relative humidity data were collected in the classroom and in the garden of each day-care center. We used multilevel linear models to evaluate the extent to which children's emotional and behavioral states could be predicted by weather conditions, controlling for child characteristics (gender and age). The data showed that relative humidity and solar radiation were the main predictors of the children's emotional and behavioral states. The outdoor humidity had a significant positive effect on frustration, sadness and aggression; solar radiation had a significant negative effect only on sadness, suggesting that a sunny winter day makes children more cheerful. The results are discussed in term of implications for parents and teachers to improve children's ecological environment.
本研究旨在通过考察佛罗伦萨（意大利）的 61 名日托中心儿童，分析冬季天气条件对幼儿行为和情感状态的影响。参与者包括 33 名男性、28 名女性和他们的 11 名教师。观察期开始时，儿童的平均年龄为 24.1 个月。日托教师在午睡前的早晨观察儿童的行为和情绪状态，并在冬季的 3 周内，每隔 15 分钟为每个婴儿填写五次问卷。从佛罗伦萨市中心的一个气象站收集每 15 分钟一次的空气温度、相对湿度、气压和太阳辐射数据。同时，在每个日托中心的教室和花园中收集空气温度和相对湿度数据。我们使用多层次线性模型来评估天气条件对儿童情绪和行为状态的预测程度，同时控制儿童特征（性别和年龄）。数据显示，相对湿度和太阳辐射是儿童情绪和行为状态的主要预测因素。室外湿度对挫折、悲伤和攻击有显著的正向影响；太阳辐射对悲伤只有显著的负向影响，这表明阳光明媚的冬日会让孩子们更快乐。这些结果从改善儿童生态环境的角度讨论了对父母和教师的启示。
