Department of Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA.
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2022 May 28;22(1):1064. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13442-z.
The specific 'active ingredients' through which neighborhood disadvantage increases risk for child psychopathology remains unclear, in large part because research to date has nearly always focused on poverty to the exclusion of other neighborhood domains. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether currently assessed neighborhood built, social, or toxicant conditions were associated with child externalizing psychopathology outcomes separately, and in a combined model, using data from the Detroit-metro county area.
We conducted principal components analyses for built, social, or toxicant conditions. Next, we fitted separate multiple regression models for each of the child externalizing psychopathology measures (oppositional defiant and conduct problems) as a function of built, social, or toxicant components.
We found that built features (more non-profits, churches, and alcohol outlets, and less agriculture and vacant properties) were associated with conduct problems, while toxicant conditions (high percent industrial, toxins released and number of pre-1978 structures) were associated with oppositional defiance problems. There was no significant association between greenspace or social conditions and child externalizing outcomes. When examined simultaneously, only the significant independent association between built conditions and conduct problems remained.
Built, social, and toxicant neighborhood conditions are not interchangeable aspects of a given neighborhood. What's more, built features are uniquely associated with child externalizing outcomes independently of other neighborhood characteristics. Future research should consider how changes in the built conditions of the neighborhood (e.g., development, decay) serve to shape child externalizing behaviors, with a focus on identifying potentially actionable elements.
邻里环境劣势增加儿童心理病理风险的具体“活性成分”仍不清楚，在很大程度上是因为迄今为止的研究几乎总是将贫困排除在外，而专注于其他邻里领域。本研究的目的是评估目前评估的邻里建筑、社会或有毒物质状况是否分别与儿童外化心理病理结果相关，以及在使用底特律都会区数据的综合模型中是否相关。
我们对建筑、社会或有毒物质条件进行主成分分析。接下来，我们针对每个儿童外化心理病理测量（对立违抗性和行为问题），分别针对建筑、社会或有毒物质成分拟合了多个回归模型。
我们发现建筑特征（更多的非营利组织、教堂和酒类商店，以及更少的农业和空地）与行为问题有关，而有毒物质状况（高比例的工业、释放的毒素和 1978 年以前的建筑物数量）与对立违抗问题有关。绿地或社会条件与儿童外化结果之间没有显著关联。当同时进行检查时，只有建筑条件与行为问题之间存在显著的独立关联。
邻里的建筑、社会和有毒物质状况不是给定邻里的可互换方面。更重要的是，建筑特征与儿童外化结果独立相关，与其他邻里特征无关。未来的研究应该考虑邻里建筑条件（例如，发展、衰退）的变化如何塑造儿童外化行为，重点是确定潜在的可操作元素。
