Fine particulate matter and depressive symptoms in children: A mediation model of physical activity and a moderation model of family poverty

Abstract

Rationale Exposure to fine particulate matter has adverse effects on mental health outcomes. However, no empirical study has yet been conducted on mechanisms of how and why exposure to fine particulate matter can affect mental health outcomes, especially focusing on children. In addition, children living in poverty may be more vulnerable to fine particulate matter. Objective This study aims to examine whether physical activity can explain the impact of ambient fine particulate matter on depressive symptoms among Korean children and whether family poverty moderates the associations between fine particulate matter, physical activity, and children’s depressive symptoms. Methods Children and their primary caregiver data were drawn from the Children’s Happiness Life Time Survey data collected by Child Fund Korea, and fine particulate matter data were derived from Air Korea, collected by the Korea Environment Corporation. Individual-level data were linked to a nationwide neighborhood-level data on air quality. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to consider the hierarchical data structure. The analytical sample consisted of 4,161 children living in 79 neighborhoods. Results The findings suggest that living in neighborhoods with higher levels of fine particulate matter is associated with a decrease in physical activity, which in turn increases children’s depressive symptoms. Physical activity fully mediates the association between fine particulate matter and children’s depressive symptoms. However, family poverty does not have a significant moderating role for the associations between fine particulate matter, physical activity, and children’s depressive symptoms. Conclusions The results of this study indicate the importance of physical activity in relation to fine particulate matter and children’s depressive symptoms.

Influence of Physical Exercise on Psychological Well-Being of Young Adults: A Quantitative Study

“…Physical activity implies multiple benefits, such as the prevention of cardiovascular diseases [ 12 ], better control of body weight [ 10 , 13 ], less presence of chronic pain [ 14 ], better bone density and better physical fitness [ 15 , 16 ], greater muscle strength, and lower risk of mortality [ 13 , 17 , 18 ]. In addition, at a psychological level, physical activity improves mental health and quality of life [ 8 , 19 ], reduces stress and anxiety [ 8 , 20 , 21 ], lowers the risk of depression [ 22 ], and improves the quality of sleep [ 23 ]. Likewise, physical activity is positively related to better academic performance among university students [ 24 ].…”

Fine particulate matter exposure and pediatric mental health outcomes: An integrative review

“…The ecological cross‐sectional study conducted by Haynes et al (2011) had a sample size of 88 counties in Ohio. Three studies were conducted on children (Chen et al, 2018; Geng et al, 2019; Thygesen et al, 2020), seven studies were conducted on adolescents (Fan et al, 2019; Latham et al, 2021; Lin et al, 2019; Miller et al, 2019; Miller et al, 2020; Newbury et al, 2019; Younan et al, 2018), and seven studies were conducted on both children and adolescents (Brokamp et al, 2019; Haynes et al, 2011; Joo et al, 2022; Mok et al, 2021; Oudin et al, 2016; Reuben et al, 2021; Roberts et al, 2019). All of the studies included both male and female participants except for Miller et al's (2020) study on adolescent females.…”

“…Five studies were conducted in the United States (Brokamp et al, 2019; Haynes et al, 2011; Miller et al, 2019; Miller et al, 2020; Younan et al, 2018), four studies were conducted in England and Wales (Latham et al, 2021; Newbury et al, 2019; Reuben et al, 2021; Roberts et al, 2019), three studies were conducted in China (Chen et al, 2018; Fan et al, 2019; Geng et al, 2019), two studies were conducted in Denmark (Mok et al, 2021; Thygesen et al, 2020), one study was conducted in Taiwan (Lin et al, 2019), one study was conducted in South Korea (Joo et al, 2022), and one study was conducted in Sweden (Oudin et al, 2016).…”

“…Most researchers studying the mental health impacts of PM 2.5 exposures in children and adolescents were in the disciplines of psychiatry and psychology (Fan et al, 2019; Latham et al, 2021; Miller et al, 2020; Mok et al, 2021; Newbury et al, 2019; Reuben et al, 2021; Roberts et al, 2019). Other disciplines that have contributed to research in this area include epidemiology (Chen et al, 2018; Fan et al, 2019), medicine (Brokamp et al, 2019; Geng et al, 2019; Haynes et al, 2011; Lin et al, 2019), public health (Oudin et al, 2016), economics (Thygesen et al, 2020), social welfare (Joo et al, 2022), and law/criminal justice (Younan et al, 2018). None of the included quantitative studies utilized conceptual or theoretical frameworks as a foundation for their research.…”

Graphene Oxide-Coated Quartz Crystal Microbalance for Bioparticle Detection (A Case Study for Bacillus sp.)

“…PM2.5, a fine particle, has a bigger diameter than an ultrafine particle, between 0.1 to 2.5 µm 2) . The biggest particulate matter is a coarse particle or PM10, which has an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 µm to 10 µm 3) . The different substances and size distribution of particulate matter make different characteristics and health impacts on humans 1,4) .…”