Concentrated poverty, ambient air pollution, and child cognitive development.

ABSTRACT: Why does growing up in a poor neighborhood impede cognitive development? Although a large volume of evidence indicates that neighborhood poverty negatively affects child outcomes, little is known about the mechanisms that might explain these effects. In this study, we outline and test a theoretical model of neighborhood effects on cognitive development that highlights the mediating role of early life exposure to neurotoxic air pollution. To evaluate this model, we analyze data from a national sample of American infants matched with information on their exposure to more than 50 different pollutants known or suspected to harm the central nervous system. Integrating methods of causal inference with supervised machine learning, we find that living in a high-poverty neighborhood increases expos

SUBMITTER: Wodtke GT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9710878 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature