“Happiness in the air?” the effects of air pollution on adolescent happiness
Abstract Background We aimed to examine the effect of ambient air pollution at the district level on adolescents’ happiness and their change in happiness over time in a cohort sample from Taiwan. Method A cohort from the Taiwan Youth Project was evaluated. The adolescents (n = 2571) were in the 7th...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2019-06-01
|
| Series: | BMC Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-019-7119-0 |
| _version_ | 1818238971271970816 |
|---|---|
| author | Wen-Hsu Lin Wen-Chi Pan Chin-Chun Yi |
| author_facet | Wen-Hsu Lin Wen-Chi Pan Chin-Chun Yi |
| author_sort | Wen-Hsu Lin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background We aimed to examine the effect of ambient air pollution at the district level on adolescents’ happiness and their change in happiness over time in a cohort sample from Taiwan. Method A cohort from the Taiwan Youth Project was evaluated. The adolescents (n = 2571) were in the 7th grade (mean age = 14.3 years) when the study was initiated and resided in 40 districts in three cities and counties in northern Taiwan. We examined the effects of the concentration level of air pollution, including PM2.5, PM10, and NO2, at the district level on adolescents’ happiness and their change in happiness over time (7th to 9th grade). Due to the high correlations of the three pollutants, we examined each separately with similar covariates. The analyses were based on both multilevel modeling and latent growth curve modeling. Results Higher concentration levels of each of the three air pollutants measured were associated with adolescent happiness such that a higher level of concentration was related to lower levels of adolescents’ happiness. These results were observed after controlling for important individual- and district-level covariates. However, further analyses did not reveal that the concentration level of air pollution was associated with the change in happiness in the study period (after 3 years). Some sensitivity checks (e.g., adjusting district size) did not change the substantive results. Conclusion Many previous studies have shown the influence of air pollution on physical health and negative emotions, but only a few using adult samples have shown that air pollution is inversely related to positive wellbeing. This study may be the first to examine the effects of air pollution on adolescents’ positive affect. Our results echo recent research on the consequent health burden of air pollution. Given that positive affect has been linked to future adult health, the results of the current study provide empirical grounds for early intervention concerning environmental factors. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T12:50:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-131eab329796420ca94e2c7c95d2d20d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T12:50:07Z |
| publishDate | 2019-06-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-131eab329796420ca94e2c7c95d2d20d2022-12-22T00:24:00ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582019-06-0119111010.1186/s12889-019-7119-0“Happiness in the air?” the effects of air pollution on adolescent happinessWen-Hsu Lin0Wen-Chi Pan1Chin-Chun Yi2Institute of Health and Welfare Policy, College of Medicine, National Yang-Ming UniversityInstitute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Yang-Ming UniversityInstitute of Sociology, Academia SinicaAbstract Background We aimed to examine the effect of ambient air pollution at the district level on adolescents’ happiness and their change in happiness over time in a cohort sample from Taiwan. Method A cohort from the Taiwan Youth Project was evaluated. The adolescents (n = 2571) were in the 7th grade (mean age = 14.3 years) when the study was initiated and resided in 40 districts in three cities and counties in northern Taiwan. We examined the effects of the concentration level of air pollution, including PM2.5, PM10, and NO2, at the district level on adolescents’ happiness and their change in happiness over time (7th to 9th grade). Due to the high correlations of the three pollutants, we examined each separately with similar covariates. The analyses were based on both multilevel modeling and latent growth curve modeling. Results Higher concentration levels of each of the three air pollutants measured were associated with adolescent happiness such that a higher level of concentration was related to lower levels of adolescents’ happiness. These results were observed after controlling for important individual- and district-level covariates. However, further analyses did not reveal that the concentration level of air pollution was associated with the change in happiness in the study period (after 3 years). Some sensitivity checks (e.g., adjusting district size) did not change the substantive results. Conclusion Many previous studies have shown the influence of air pollution on physical health and negative emotions, but only a few using adult samples have shown that air pollution is inversely related to positive wellbeing. This study may be the first to examine the effects of air pollution on adolescents’ positive affect. Our results echo recent research on the consequent health burden of air pollution. Given that positive affect has been linked to future adult health, the results of the current study provide empirical grounds for early intervention concerning environmental factors.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-019-7119-0Air pollutionPositive affectHappinessAdolescentMultilevel analysis |
| spellingShingle | Wen-Hsu Lin Wen-Chi Pan Chin-Chun Yi “Happiness in the air?” the effects of air pollution on adolescent happiness BMC Public Health Air pollution Positive affect Happiness Adolescent Multilevel analysis |
| title | “Happiness in the air?” the effects of air pollution on adolescent happiness |
| title_full | “Happiness in the air?” the effects of air pollution on adolescent happiness |
| title_fullStr | “Happiness in the air?” the effects of air pollution on adolescent happiness |
| title_full_unstemmed | “Happiness in the air?” the effects of air pollution on adolescent happiness |
| title_short | “Happiness in the air?” the effects of air pollution on adolescent happiness |
| title_sort | happiness in the air the effects of air pollution on adolescent happiness |
| topic | Air pollution Positive affect Happiness Adolescent Multilevel analysis |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-019-7119-0 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wenhsulin happinessintheairtheeffectsofairpollutiononadolescenthappiness AT wenchipan happinessintheairtheeffectsofairpollutiononadolescenthappiness AT chinchunyi happinessintheairtheeffectsofairpollutiononadolescenthappiness |