Early-Life Exposure to Urban Air Pollution and Externalizing Behaviors in Youth

 描述(申请人提供)：目前约有一半的世界人口居住在城市地区，超过10亿是极易受环境逆境影响的儿童。城市居住是各种精神障碍的一个有充分证据的危险因素，包括外化的精神病理(EP)，如攻击性。城市地区犯罪和其他反社会行为的急剧增加促使世卫组织宣布暴力是一个主要的全球公共卫生问题。遗传因素是EP的重要原因，但环境因素也占其总变异的50%。以前对城市居民的研究主要集中在与EP有关的社会环境上，但忽略了物理环境的潜在贡献。该项目的主要目标是绘制城市青少年中EP的轨迹图，确定城市心理健康的新环境贡献者，并检查社会-化学相互作用。其目的是：1)调查暴露于交通空气污染物(AP)是否预示着青春期的攻击性行为和成年后反社会人格障碍(ASPD)的发展；2)研究交通空气污染物是否与反应性(即冲动)和主动性(即有计划的)攻击行为有更强的关联；3)确定潜在的交互影响 AP和社会压力/逆境对攻击性的影响。在越来越多的关于交通AP的发育神经毒性的证据的支持下，并受到文献中关键知识缺口的推动，这些目标将使用来自南加州大学两项纵向研究的人口数据和暴露建模工具来解决：反社会行为的风险因素研究(RFAB)研究和儿童健康研究(CHS)。RFAB包括超过750对双胞胎，在多个时间点进行评估，年龄从9-10岁到19-20岁。采用儿童行为量表和反应性和主动性攻击问卷测量儿童的总体攻击性和特质攻击性，采用小型国际神经精神病学访谈评估ASPD。CHS将提供与道路交通相关的详细暴露数据和空间建模工具，道路交通是城市环境中AP的主要来源。利用地理信息科学(GIS)和暴露建模工具，将估计住宅和学校地点的AP水平。结合结构方程和混合水平建模的纵向数据分析将被用来检验交通AP的假想的不良神经行为效应及其与社会应激源的交互作用。我提议的培训计划将提高我在发展精神病理学、空气污染暴露评估和统计分析方面的知识，这将为我的职业生涯做好准备，成为一名独立调查员，在基于人口的环境神经科学方面进行多学科流行病学研究。该项目旨在实现NIEHS的目标，即了解个体在整个生命周期内对环境因素的易感性。拟议的工作将增加对城市心理健康的了解，这些心理健康与从早年到青春期的AP接触有关，并有助于瞄准将受益于应对AP不利影响的先发制人战略的人群。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Approximately half of the world population currently resides in urban areas and over one billion are children who are highly susceptible to environmental adversities. Urban residence is a well-documented risk factor for various mental disorders, including externalizing psychopathologies (EPs) such as aggression. Drastic increases in crime and other antisocial behaviors in urban areas have prompted the WHO to declare violence as a major global public health issue. Genetics are an important cause of EP, but environment also accounts for 50% of its total variance. Previous studies in urban-dwelling populations have primarily focused on the social environments linked to EP, but the potential contribution of physical environments has been overlooked. The project's main objectives are to chart the trajectory of EP in urban-dwelling adolescents, identify a novel environmental contributor to urban mental health, and examine social-chemical interactions. The aims are: 1) to investigate whether traffic air pollutant (AP) exposure predicts aggressive behavior in adolescence and later development of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) during young adulthood; 2) to examine whether traffic APs are more strongly associated with reactive (i.e. impulsive) versus proactive (i.e. planned) aggression; 3) to identify potential interaction effects of APs and social stressors/adversities on aggression. Supported by growing evidence on developmental neurotoxicity of traffic APs and motivated by critical knowledge gaps in the literature, these aims will be addressed using population data and exposure modeling tools from two USC longitudinal studies: the Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior (RFAB) Study and the Children's Health Study (CHS). The RFAB includes over 750 twin pairs assessed at multiple time points from 9-10 to 19-20 years of age. Total aggression and trait aggression were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist and the Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire, and ASPD was assessed with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. The CHS will provide detailed exposure data and spatial modeling tools related to road traffic, the primary source of APs in urban environments. Using geographical information science (GIS) and exposure modeling tools, AP levels will be estimated at residential and school locations. Longitudinal data analyses combining structural equation and mixed-level modeling will be used to examine the hypothesized adverse neurobehavioral effects of traffic APs and their interaction with social stressors. My proposed training plan will advance my knowledge in developmental psychopathology, air pollution exposure assessment, and statistical analyses, which will prepare me for a career as an independent investigator conducting multidisciplinary epidemiologic research on population-based environmental neurosciences. This project addresses the NIEHS goal to understand individual susceptibility across the lifespan to environmental factors. The proposed work will increase understanding of urban mental health linked to AP exposure from early life to adolescence and help in targeting populations that would benefit from preemptive strategies addressing the adverse effects of APs.