Review of Non-Chemical Stressors from the Social Environment
Citation:
Hibbert, K. AND N. Tulve. Review of Non-Chemical Stressors from the Social Environment. 2017 ISES Annual Meeting, Durham, NC, October 15 - 19, 2017.
Impact/Purpose:
Presented to the ISES 2017 Symposium
Description:
Non-chemical stressors (e.g., noise, diet, temperature, overcrowding) are found in the built, natural and social environments. Correlations between exposure to non-chemical stressors in the social environment (e.g., SES, exposure to violence, acculturation) and negative health outcomes in children have been shown. Associations between exposure to chemical stressors and changes in children’s health have also been shown. What we need to better understand are the interrelationships between chemical and non-chemical stressors and children’s health. Children may be more vulnerable to exposures from stressors due to their developmental stage and lifestage-specific activities. Our objectives were to 1) review the state-of-the-science in regards to non-chemical stressors found in a child’s social environment and 2) rank and prioritize those stressors. A systematic review of non-chemical stressors found in a child’s social environment was completed. Combinations of search strings were entered into PubMed, Google Scholar, and PsychInfo. Inclusion criteria resulted in 372 articles and 678 non-chemical stressors. From these articles, data was extracted into a searchable database for statistical analysis. The review resulted in 11 categories of non-chemical stressors (acculturation, adverse childhood experiences, economic, education, food, greenspace, overcrowding, social support, stress, urbanization, and exposure to violence). Food, economic, acculturation, and violence had more articles than other topic areas. Analysis of the topic areas suggested significant positive and negative associations with children’s health. In general, non-chemical stressors from the social environment are found in combination. Our analysis suggests that non-chemical stressors are associated with children’s health. Additionally, chemical and non-chemical stressors should be considered together when evaluating children’s health.
