AREAS OF RESEARCH
Environmental Hazards, Schools and Children's Academic Development
Environmental Hazards, Schools and Children's Academic Development
Academic proficiency is paramount to future success. Academic proficiency among children predicts their civic engagement, future socioeconomic status, and general health/well-being. Research is nearly unequivocal in showing that initial academic success leads to later triumphs. Population-level reductions in academic proficiency among schoolchildren can potentially slow economic productivity and societal progress. Thus; educational outcomes are important to examine in the context of a changing climate that promises increasing environmental hazard exposures. The problem of environmental health hazards around schools is serious but it has been neglected by researchers and analysts. This is concerning because children are highly susceptible to the effects of hazards.Our team has used individual-level data to quantify the impact of air pollution on children’s math, reading and science performance. We have also conducted the first national study of social inequalities in air neurotoxicants at US public schools. CNTH researchers comprehensively reviewed existing knowledge of how air pollution, noise, greenspace and disasters influence children’s academic proficiency. We have also tested if canopy cover (healthful exposure to green trees) might be protective against the harmful effects of air pollution on a test scores.
Multigenerational Environmental Exposures
Multigenerational Environmental Exposures
When we think about the life cycle of hazardous substances from cradle to grave, it raises questions about when those substances stop impacting the health of organisms, including humans. Research on the multigenerational effects of environmental exposures can address this question. Much of this research has relied on animals. For example, exposing zebrafish to lead-laced water led to learning impairment in the third generation. Instead, we explore how multigenerational exposures shapes human health. We have conducted a study on the risk of intellectual disability (ID) if the mother or father were exposed to polluting industrial facilities while their own mothers were pregnant. We compiled historical data on polluting industry locations for this study. Results indicated that ancestral exposures, particularly when the maternal grandmother was pregnant with the mother, may increase risks of developmental disabilities in the next generation.
Prenatal Air Pollution and Intellectual Disability
Prenatal Air Pollution and Intellectual Disability
Despite mounting evidence linking many prenatal air pollutants (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) to adverse neurodevelopment, the literature on prenatal air pollution exposures remains underdeveloped in several specific regards, including a neglect of specific conditions (e.g., intellectual disability) and examination of specific developmental windows of risk (e.g., preconception period). Intellectual disability (ID) involves problems with general mental abilities in terms of intellectual and adaptive functioning. Our team has contributed to addressing these gaps in the literature. We have studied prenatal exposure to industrial toxins, fine particulate matter, and ozone as they relate to odds of intellectual disability in Utah children. In these studies, air pollution during the prenatal period was a significant risk factor. Fine particulate matter exposure during the preconception and first trimester periods emerged as critical windows of risk while ozone exposure during all trimesters (particularly the second trimester) also conferred risk.
Human Dimensions of Climate Change
Human Dimensions of Climate Change
Our team has contributed to research on the human dimensions of climate change in several regards. We have examined social inequalities in exposure to dust storms from the drying Great Salt Lake (Utah), including impacts potential future dust scenarios. We have examined social inequalities in summer heat exposure, incorporating novel local measures of segregation and intersectionality. We have also focused on extreme weather events, including winter storms. Winter storms remain understudied in terms of their impacts of socially vulnerable populations. Using February 2021 Winter Storm Uri in Texas as a case study, we examined social disparities in power and water outages and how disability and residence in subsidized housing shaped health and economic impacts of the storm. We have also focused on mental health impacts. Very few studies have examined mental health effects of extreme cold weather. Review articles on climate change and mental health have tended to focus on heat waves, floods, droughts, tornados, vector-borne diseases, and wildfires, but not extreme cold weather events. We have examined posttraumatic stress as well as anxiety and depression in the aftermath of the winter storm.
Intersectional Environmental Justice: Examining Micro-level Disparities in Multiple Environmental Outcomes
Intersectional Environmental Justice: Examining Micro-level Disparities in Multiple Environmental Outcomes
This project aims to overcome limitations of prior research by employing restricted access Census microdata and fine-scale geographic estimates of multiple environmental conditions in analyses that clarify micro-level (i.e., individual/household) determinants of environmental inequity in the United States. Specifically, the project pairs Census-provided American Community Survey, Decennial Census, and American Housing Survey microdata with fine-scale spatial data on environmental conditions. The project examines multiple environmental conditions—including air pollution; flood hazards; extreme heat; water insecurity; and access to parks, tree canopy cover, and healthful food—that are linked to the Census microdata based on housing unit geographic identifiers. Project analyses include multivariable modeling to quantify discrete and intersectional effects of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sex/gender, age, disability, nativity (i.e., U.S. vs. foreign birth), citizenship, and language on residential environmental hazards and amenities. Findings yield new estimates of environmental conditions underpinning public health and well-being for the U.S. population and subpopulations. In addition, findings advance fundamental knowledge in the environmental justice research field by clarifying inequities experienced by intersectional subgroups based on measurement of fine-scale individual/household-level environmental hazards and amenities, which would be impossible with publicly available versions of the Census data.
Social vulnerability to hazards and disasters
SOCIAL VULNERABILITY TO HAZARDS AND DISASTERS
We have contributed to knowledge of social vulnerability using multiple research methods. At an individual and household level, using structured survey and semi-structured interview methods, we have conducted studies that have clarified influences on people’s perceptions of hazards as well as the role of social disadvantages in constraining their decision-making about hazards. At broader levels, we have contributed knowledge through quantitative socio-spatial analyses of inequitable risks to multiple types of hazards, including acute and chronic air pollution, coastal and inland flooding, wildfire, extreme hear, and water scarcity. We have also furthered understanding of the “production” or historical-geographical evolution of unequal risks to hazards and disasters based on historical and institutional analyses that employ qualitative research methods. We have conducted research at a national level in the United States, as well as at local and regional levels in the United States, Mexico, and Costa Rica.
Incorporating Health Outcomes into Environmental Justice
INCORPORATING HEALTH OUTCOMES INTO ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Environmental justice (EJ) research centers on concerns over the societal distribution of environmental risks and hazards. Quantitative studies have shown that minority and lower income neighborhoods tend to suffer from unequal distribution of hazards across the US. Independent of EJ research, social scientists have demonstrated socio-spatial disparities in adverse health outcomes, with minority and lower income areas experiencing higher rates of morbidity and mortality. Evidence suggests that disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards might be an important cause of disparities in health outcomes, but this question has been left largely unaddressed. Although much EJ research implicitly assumes that unequal environmental exposures produce disparate health impacts, very few EJ studies have tested that assumption. Our research has contributed to this project of integrating health data into EJ studies. We have analyzed data on respiratory health outcomes as well as indicators of neurological development.
intra-ethnic inequalities
intra-ethnic inequalities
Within the field health disparities and to a greater degree within EJ research, there has been a tendency to examine very broad categories of race and ethnicity (e.g., Latino/as). This means that scholars have tacitly assumed a significant degree of homogeneity within minority populations that is not always present. They have thus failed to clarify how racial/ethnic status articulates with other social characteristics in contributing to unequal environmental risks and health disparities. We have helped to unpack “Hispanic” as a monolithic category by demonstrating that it masks substantial within-group heterogeneity in ways that map to intra-ethnic environmental injustices and health disparities. Important axes of difference within the Hispanic population include language proficiency and preference, nativity, country of origin, and socioeconomic status. Stemming from this initial work on Latino/as, we conducted a series of studies related to Asian Americans and environmental health disparities and are now examining intra-ethnic disparities in other racial/ethnic groups.
advancing environmental justice methods
ADVANCING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE METHODS
We have contributed to advances in EJ research by pushing forward methodological innovations and new statistical approaches for studying distributional environmental injustices. Prior to 2010, most multivariate quantitative studies relied on ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, which is poorly suited to spatial data. This is because spatial data sets often exhibit spatial autocorrelation, in which observations tend to be influenced by their neighbors. This means that the error terms from the regression analysis do not satisfy the independence conditions generally required for OLS regression. To address this, we have led methodological changes in the field toward the use of spatial autoregressive models, which can appropriately deal with spatial dependence. More recently, we have been using individual-level data in studies of EJ, which is new, and has necessitated that we introduce techniques not commonly used in EJ research, specifically statistical methods appropriate for missing, clustered and non-normally distributed data, in order to support valid inferences.
broadening the scope of environmental justice research
BROADENING THE SCOPE OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE RESEARCH
We have also helped broaden the scope of quantitative EJ research by conducting studies in Mexico and by introducing an approach to comparative EJ research focused on hazard characteristics. Limited systematic comparative knowledge exists about patterns of environmental injustices in exposure to varied natural and technological hazards in different geographic contexts. The majority of EJ studies over the past several decades have examined the Global North (US, Canada, Europe) and found that low income and minority residents face disproportionate exposure to industrial hazards. A small body of research suggests that patterns of environmental injustice may be different in the Global South. Therefore, we have conducted a series of studies in Juárez and Tijuana, Mexico and findings point to the importance of urban development trajectories in shaping patterns of environmental injustice. Stemming from this work, we have also sought to expand the scope of EJ research by focusing on comparative work between cities and different types of hazards. We have found that hazard characteristics (e.g., divisibility, frequency, magnitude) shape disparate risk patterns.