The Relationship between Neighborhood Environment and Child Mental Health in Japanese Elementary School Students
The Relationship between Neighborhood Environment and Child Mental Health in Japanese Elementary School Students
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DOI：
10.3390/ijerph17155491
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发表时间：
2020-08-01
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Katsura, Toshiki
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hosokawa, Rikuya;Katsura, Toshiki
有关邻里环境与小学生(儿童时期)心理健康结果之间的关系的研究很有限。在相对贫困程度较高的国家，在控制了家庭社会经济地位后，人们对邻里条件与儿童健康的关系知之甚少；因此，有必要区分与儿童行为风险相关的特定邻里特征，而不是社会经济地位。采用家长自评问卷，对日本爱知县名古屋四年级学生(n=695)的邻里环境特征、儿童行为结果和家庭社会经济状况进行了评估。在调整了社会经济变量后，进行了多元线性回归，以评估社区特征对儿童行为的预测程度。更高的审美质量、步行能力、健康食品的可及性、安全性和社会凝聚力与儿童的行为问题负相关，与社交能力正相关，这表明即使在控制了社会经济因素后，生活环境质量也可能会影响儿童的行为结果。发展符合这些特点的高质量环境可以最大限度地减少家庭社会经济困境的负面影响，并有可能帮助处于社会经济不利地位的父母及其子女。因此，应该促进为社会经济困难家庭改善邻里环境的政策和方案。
Limited research has examined the relationship between neighborhood environment and mental health outcomes in elementary school students (middle childhood). In countries with high relative poverty, little is known about how neighborhood conditions are related to children's health after controlling for family socioeconomic status; thus, it is necessary to distinguish the particular neighborhood characteristics relevant to behavioral risk in children, independent of socioeconomic position. Using a self-report survey completed by parents, we assessed neighborhood environment characteristics, children's behavioral outcomes, and family socioeconomic status in fourth grade students from Nagoya, in Aichi prefecture, Japan (n= 695). A multiple linear regression was conducted to evaluate to what extent neighborhood characteristics predict child behaviors, after adjusting for socioeconomic variables. Greater aesthetic quality, walkability, accessibility of healthy foods, safety, and social cohesion were inversely linked to children's behavioral problems and positively linked to social competence, suggesting that quality of living environment may affect behavioral outcomes in children, even after controlling for socioeconomic factors. Developing a quality environment that matches these characteristics may minimize the negative impact of a family's socioeconomic distress and is likely to aid socioeconomically disadvantaged parents and their children. Thus, policies and programs that enhance the neighborhood environment for socioeconomically disadvantaged families should be promoted.