Biomedical subjects

Gary W Evans

Publications and source records attributed to Gary W Evans.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Rail commuting duration and passenger stress.

Over 100 million Americans commute to work every weekday. Little is known, however, about how this aspect of work, which may indeed be the most stressful aspect of the job for some, affects human health and well-being. The authors studied a sample of 208 male and female suburban rail commuters who took the train to Manhattan, New York. The greater the duration of the commute, the larger the magnitude of salivary cortisol elevations in reference to resting baseline levels, the less the commuter's persistence on a task at the end of the commute, and the greater the levels of perceived stress. These effects were not moderated by gender. Commuting stress is an important and largely overlooked aspect of environmental health.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Child development and the physical environment.

Characteristics of the physical environment that influence child development are discussed. Topics include behavioral toxicology, noise, crowding, housing and neighborhood quality, natural settings, schools, and day care settings. Socioemotional, cognitive, motivation, and psychophysiological outcomes in children and youths are reviewed. Necessary methodological and conceptual advances are introduced as well.

Child↗

PubMed2005

The role of chaos in poverty and children's socioemotional adjustment.

There are growing levels of chaos in the lives of American children, youth, and families. Increasingly, children grow up in households lacking in structure and routine, inundated by background stimulation from noise and crowding, and forced to contend with the frenetic pace of modern life. Although widespread, chaos does not occur randomly in the population. We document that low-income adolescents face higher levels of chaos than their more affluent counterparts and provide longitudinal evidence that some of the adverse effects of poverty on socioemotional adjustment are mediated by exposure to chaotic living conditions.

Child↗

PubMed2004

Environmental justice, cumulative environmental risk, and health among low- and middle-income children in upstate New York.

OBJECTIVES: We documented inequitable, cumulative environmental risk exposure and health between predominantly White low-income and middle-income children residing in rural areas in upstate New York. METHODS: Cross-sectional data for 216 third- through fifth-grade children included overnight urinary neuroendocrine levels, noise levels, residential crowding (people/room), and housing quality. RESULTS: After control for income, maternal education, family structure, age, and gender, cumulative environmental risk exposure (0-3) (risk >1 SD above the mean for each singular risk factor [0, 1]) was substantially greater for low-income children. Cumulative environmental risk was positively correlated with elevated overnight epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol in the low-income sample but not in the middle-income sample. CONCLUSIONS: Cumulative environmental risk exposure among low-income families may contribute to bad health, beginning in early childhood.

Child↗

PubMed2003

A multimethodological analysis of cumulative risk and allostatic load among rural children.

This study merged two theoretical constructs: cumulative risk and allostatic load. Physical (crowding, noise, housing quality) and psychosocial (child separation, turmoil, violence) aspects of the home environment and personal characteristics (poverty, single parenthood, maternal highschool dropout status) were modeled in a cumulative risk heuristic. Elevated cumulative risk was associated with heightened cardiovascular and neuroendocrine parameters, increased deposition of body fat, and a higher summary index of total allostatic load. Previous findings that children who face more cumulative risk have greater psychological distress were replicated among a sample of rural children and shown to generalize to lower perceptions of self-worth. Prior cumulative risk research was further extended through demonstration of self-regulatory behavior problems and elevated learned helplessness.

Anxiety↗

PubMed2003

The built environment and mental health.

The built environment has direct and indirect effects on mental health. High-rise housing is inimical to the psychological well-being of women with young children. Poor-quality housing appears to increase psychological distress, but methodological issues make it difficult to draw clear conclusions. Mental health of psychiatric patients has been linked to design elements that affect their ability to regulate social interaction (e.g., furniture configuration, privacy). Alzheimer's patients adjust better to small-scale, homier facilities that also have lower levels of stimulation. They are also better adjusted in buildings that accommodate physical wandering. Residential crowding (number of people per room) and loud exterior noise sources (e.g., airports) elevate psychological distress but do not produce serious mental illness. Malodorous air pollutants heighten negative affect, and some toxins (e.g., lead, solvents) cause behavioral disturbances (e.g., self-regulatory ability, aggression). Insufficient daylight is reliably associated with increased depressive symptoms. Indirectly, the physical environment may influence mental health by altering psychosocial processes with known mental health sequelae. Personal control, socially supportive relationships, and restoration from stress and fatigue are all affected by properties of the built environment. More prospective, longitudinal studies and, where feasible, randomized experiments are needed to examine the potential role of the physical environment in mental health. Even more challenging is the task of developing underlying models of how the built environment can affect mental health. It is also likely that some individuals may be more vulnerable to mental health impacts of the built environment. Because exposure to poor environmental conditions is not randomly distributed and tends to concentrate among the poor and ethnic minorities, we also need to focus more attention on the health implications of multiple environmental risk exposure.

Air Pollution↗

PubMed2002

Socioeconomic status and health: the potential role of environmental risk exposure.

Among several viable explanations for the ubiquitous SES-health gradient is differential exposure to environmental risk. We document evidence of inverse relations between income and other indices of SES with environmental risk factors including hazardous wastes and other toxins, ambient and indoor air pollutants, water quality, ambient noise, residential crowding, housing quality, educational facilities, work environments, and neighborhood conditions. We then briefly overview evidence that such exposures are inimical to health and well-being. We conclude with a discussion of the research and policy implications of environmental justice, arguing that a particularly salient feature of poverty for health consequences is exposure to multiple environmental risk factors.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Housing quality and psychological well-being among the elderly population.

With exponential growth in the number of elderly Americans living independently in the community, it is important to better understand the implications of living conditions for psychological well-being among the elderly population. In a cross-sectional study, housing quality is associated with positive affect among the older adults living independently in the community. Moreover, this relation is mediated by place attachment. Elderly residents of higher quality homes, independent of multiple sociodemographic factors (e.g., income, gender), feel more attached to their home, which, in turn, appears to account for the relation between housing quality and positive affect.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2002

A prospective study of some effects of aircraft noise on cognitive performance in schoolchildren.

Before the opening of the new Munich International Airport and the termination of the old airport, children near both sites were recruited into aircraft-noise groups (aircraft noise at present or pending) and control groups with no aircraft noise (closely matched for socioeconomic status). A total of 326 children (mean age = 10.4 years) took part in three data-collection waves, one before and two after the switch-over of the airports. After the switch, long-term memory and reading were impaired in the noise group at the new airport. and improved in the formerly noise-exposed group at the old airport. Short-term memory also improved in the latter group after the old airport was closed. At the new airport, speech perception was impaired in the newly noise-exposed group. Mediational analyses suggest that poorer reading was not mediated by speech perception, and that impaired recall was in part mediated by reading.

Aircraft↗

PubMed1998

Urban bus driving: an international arena for the study of occupational health psychology.

This article offers a brief summary of the articles in this special issue, plus it provides a rationale for the scientific study of urban bus operation. Among the reasons to study urban transit operators are the following: Multimethodological, international data show that urban bus driving is an unhealthy occupation; psychosocial and environmental characteristics of the transit work setting portend ill health, plus these characteristics are readily discernible to the public; urban transit workforces well represent blue-collar populations; despite widespread changes in the nature of work related to technological innovations, mass-transit operation is likely to remain stable, and the "health" of the mass-transit industry has important implications for societal well-being; and finally, bus driving illustrates several important methodological challenges. The article concludes with an overview of future research.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The environment of childhood poverty.

Poor children confront widespread environmental inequities. Compared with their economically advantaged counterparts, they are exposed to more family turmoil, violence, separation from their families, instability, and chaotic households. Poor children experience less social support, and their parents are less responsive and more authoritarian. Low-income children are read to relatively infrequently, watch more TV, and have less access to books and computers. Low-income parents are less involved in their children's school activities. The air and water poor children consume are more polluted. Their homes are more crowded, noisier, and of lower quality. Low-income neighborhoods are more dangerous, offer poorer municipal services, and suffer greater physical deterioration. Predominantly low-income schools and day care are inferior. The accumulation of multiple environmental risks rather than singular risk exposure may be an especially pathogenic aspect of childhood poverty.

Child↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The environment of poverty: multiple stressor exposure, psychophysiological stress, and socioemotional adjustment.

The one in five children growing up in poverty in America have elevated risk for socioemotional difficulties. One contributing factor to their elevated risk may be exposure to multiple physical and psychosocial stressors. This study demonstrated that 8- to 10-year-old, low-income, rural children (N = 287) confront a wider array of multiple physical (substandard housing, noise, crowding) and psychosocial (family turmoil, early childhood separation, community violence) stressors than do their middle-income counterparts. Prior research on self-reported distress among inner-city minority children is replicated and extended among low-income, rural White children with evidence of higher levels of self- and parent-reported psychological distress, greater difficulties in self-regulatory behavior (delayed gratification), and elevated psychophysiological stress (resting blood pressure, overnight neuroendocrine hormones). Preliminary mediational analyses with cross-sectional data suggest that cumulative stressor exposure may partially account for the well-documented, elevated risk of socioemotional difficulties accompanying poverty.

Affective Symptoms↗