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Development of a Conceptual Framework Depicting a Childs Total (Built, Natural, Social) Environment in Order to Optimize Health and Well-Being
Citation:
Tulve, N., J. Ruiz, K. Lichtveld, S. Darney, AND J. Quackenboss. Development of a Conceptual Framework Depicting a Childs Total (Built, Natural, Social) Environment in Order to Optimize Health and Well-Being. Journal of Environment and Health Science. Ommega Publishers, Plainsboro, NJ, 2(2):1-8, (2016).
Impact/Purpose:
Published in the Journal of Environment and Health Science.
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 illustrates 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 as they progress through various stages of development (infancy, childhood, adolescence). We demonstrate the use of this framework to examine the complex interrelationships between chemical and non-chemical stressors for two major public health concerns: childhood obesity and diminished general cognitive ability. Systematic reviews of the literature found a limited number of studies that evaluated both chemical and non-chemical stressors. For example, neighborhood-level socioeconomic factors and chlorpyrifos exposure were shown to interact to impact cognitive function, and maternal self-esteem was found to modify vulnerability to prenatal lead. 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.
