Do cognitive and non-cognitive abilities mediate the relationship between air pollution exposure and mental health?

Abstract

Considered as a key component of human capital, mental health has drawn substantial scholarly attention for its effect on people’s health status and economic outcome. When facing the challenge of stress, people’s heterogeneity in cognitive ability and non-cognitive ability causes difference in patterns of coping, resulting in different manifestations in mental health. Previous researches have shown that cognitive and non-cognitive abilities have positively direct or indirect effects on mental health, but few studies research their role of coping with air pollution. We used the China Family Panel Survey (CFPS) and matched individual data with county or district level PM2.5 information from NASA. The study found that air pollution has negative effect on mental health with every increase of 1μg/m3 in PM2.5 deteriorating mental health by 0.038 standard deviation, which is the total effect of air pollution. However, the direct effect of air pollution on mental health will decrease to 0.028 in absolute value when considering mediating effects. By employing different approaches, we found positive mediating effects via cognitive ability and non-cognitive ability. Individuals with high cognitive and non-cognitive abilities are able to accurately diagnose problems and select the optimal coping strategies, thus restoring positive mental health.

The factors associated with distress following exposure to smoke from an extended coal mine fire

“…Although past research has shown that exposure to ambient PM2.5 is positively associated with psychopathological symptoms (Gu et al, 2020;Kioumourtzoglou et al, 2017;Power et al, 2015;Ren et al, 2019;Sass et al, 2017), the current research extends this observation by revealing a clear exposureresponse relationship between mine fire emitted PM2.5 and posttraumatic distress. As theorised by Block and Calderón-Garcidueñas (2009), the relationship between PM2.5 exposure and PTSD symptoms may be due to nervous system changes in those who were exposed.…”

“…Smoke released from coalmine fires is composed of many pollutants, including particulate matter and carbon monoxide, which are hazardous to human health (Melody & Johnston, 2015). In the context of psychological health, exposure to PM2.5 has been associated with an increased risk of both general and phobia-related anxiety (Power et al, 2015), depression (Kioumourtzoglou et al, 2017;Ren, Yu, & Yang, 2019), and general psychological distress (Gu, Yan, Elahi, & Cao, 2020;Sass et al, 2017) regardless of the individual's awareness of their exposure. However, to date, very limited research has investigated the impact of exposure to smoke emanating from coalmine fires on psychological health (Jones, Lee, Maybery, & McFarlane, 2018;Maybery et al, 2020).…”

“…The current research aimed to investigate the effects of varying levels of exposure to PM2.5 released from the Hazelwood mine fire event on the development of long-term symptoms of posttraumatic distress, as well as the contribution of other known risk factors such as age, prior mental health and traumatic exposures, and chronic respiratory and cardiovascular conditions. Based on the observed relationship between PM2.5 exposure and psychopathology (Gu et al, 2020;Kioumourtzoglou et al, 2017;Power et al, 2015;Ren et al, 2019;Sass et al, 2017), and existing evidence of the psychological impact of mine fire disasters (Jones et al, 2018;Kroll-Smith, 1990;Maybery et al, 2020), we hypothesised that a positive exposure-response relationship would be observed between levels of PM2.5 exposure and symptoms of posttraumatic distress. Morwell residents were also compared to residents from Sale to assess for any impact of residing in Morwell at the time of the event over and above the distress attributable to PM2.5 exposure.…”

Effects of Progressive Resistance Training on Cognition and IGF-1 Levels in Elder Women Who Live in Areas with High Air Pollution

“…These conditions could cause cognitive deficits as a result of practicing mixed cardiovascular exercise and resistance training, compared to the basic physical activity involved in daily tasks, since approximately 1.8 times more ultrafine particles are inhaled due to the increased oxygen demand [33]. Consequently, an association between air pollution and the subsequent cognitive impairment [34] leads to a negative effect on mental health, with each increase of 1 µg/m 3 of PM2.5 [35], causing states of neuroinflammation and neuropathology, which are associated with neurodegenerative affectations [36], as well as with poor cognitive performance in verbal and mathematics tests [37]. Table 1 shows the average triannual atmospheric contamination of the place of residence of the participants and the reference values of Chile and the World Health Organization (WHO).…”

Effects of Pollution on Child and Adolescent Mental Health: A Protocol for a Systematic Review

“…The harmful physical health sequalae of these emissions are well-recognised [4][5] . In comparison, understanding of the mental health effects of pollution is emergent [6][7][8] , particularly when it comes to impacts on children and adolescents [9][10] . The under-attention to pollution's potential mental health effects is problematic, not least because much of the global burden of disease is attributable to mental illness 11 .…”