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Conceptual framework describing a child's total (built, natural, social) environment in order to optimize health and well-being
Citation:
Tulve, N., J. Quackenboss, R. JDC, L. Kim, AND D. SP. Conceptual framework describing a child's total (built, natural, social) environment in order to optimize health and well-being. ISES 2016 Annual Meeting, Utrecht, NETHERLANDS, October 09 - 13, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
Presented at ISES 2016 Annual Meeting, Utrecht, The Netherlands, October 9-13, 2016
Description:
The complexity of the components and their interactions that characterize children’s health and well-being are not adequately captured by current public health paradigms. Children are exposed to combinations of chemical and non-chemical stressors from their built, natural, and social environments at each lifestage and throughout their lifecourse. Children’s inherent characteristics (e.g., sex, genetics, pre-existing disease) and their activities and behaviors also influence their exposures to chemical and non-chemical stressors from these environments. We describe a conceptual framework that considers the interrelationships between inherent characteristics, activities and behaviors, and stressors (both chemical and non-chemical) from the built, natural, and social environments in influencing children’s health and well-being throughout their lifecourse. This framework is comprised of several intersecting circles that represent how stressors from the total environment interact with children’s inherent characteristics and their activities and behaviors to influence their health and well-being at each lifestage and throughout their lifecourse. We used this framework to examine the complex interrelationships between chemical and non-chemical stressors for two public health challenges specific to children: childhood obesity and general cognitive ability. One systematic scoping review showed that children’s general cognitive ability was influenced not only by chemical exposure (e.g., chlorpyrifos), but by the interrelationships between chemical and non-chemical stressors (e.g., neighborhood-level socioeconomic factors and chlorpyrifos exposure). This systematic scoping review also suggested that non-chemical stressors may modify the response to chemical exposures (for general cognitive ability: e.g., prenatal lead exposure and maternal self-esteem). Another systematic scoping review showed that numerous chemical and non-chemical stressors are linked to childhood obesity. Using this conceptual framework and these systematic scoping reviews, we hypothesize that multiple chemical and non-chemical stressors are interacting to impact childhood obesity and general cognitive ability, suggesting the importance of a conceptual framework describing the interrelationships between inherent characteristics, activities and behaviors, and stressors (both chemical and non-chemical) from the built, natural, and social environments. By better understanding these complex interactions, decision makers can make informed choices for child-specific environments that optimize health and well-being within the home and community.
