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Villanueva K, Alderton A, Higgs C, Badland H, Goldfeld S. Data to Decisions: Methods to Create Neighbourhood Built Environment Indicators Relevant for Early Childhood Development. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph19095549. [PMID: 35564944 PMCID: PMC9102076 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19095549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2022] [Revised: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/29/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Healthy development in the early years lays the foundations for children’s ongoing physical, emotional, and social development. Children develop in multiple contexts, including their local neighbourhood. Neighbourhood-built environment characteristics, such as housing, walkability, traffic exposure, availability of services, facilities, and parks, are associated with a range of health and wellbeing outcomes across the life course, but evidence with early years’ outcomes is still emerging. Data linkage techniques were used to assemble a dataset of spatial (objectively-measured) neighbourhood-built environment (BE) measures linked to participant addresses in the 2015 Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) for children living in the 21 most populous urban and regional Australian cities (n = 235,655) to help address this gap. This paper describes the methods used to develop this dataset. This linked dataset (AEDC-BE) is the first of its kind worldwide, enabling opportunities for identifying which features of the built environment are associated with ECD across Australia at scale, allow comparisons between diverse contexts, and the identification of where best to intervene. National data coverage provides statistical power to model real-world complexities, such as differences by city, state/territory, and remoteness. The neighbourhood-built environment can be modified by policy and practice at scale, and has been identified as a way to help reduce inequitable early childhood development outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Villanueva
- Centre for Urban Research, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia; (A.A.); (C.H.); (H.B.)
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia;
- Correspondence: or
| | - Amanda Alderton
- Centre for Urban Research, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia; (A.A.); (C.H.); (H.B.)
| | - Carl Higgs
- Centre for Urban Research, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia; (A.A.); (C.H.); (H.B.)
| | - Hannah Badland
- Centre for Urban Research, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia; (A.A.); (C.H.); (H.B.)
| | - Sharon Goldfeld
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia;
- Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
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Vinopal K, Morrissey TW. Neighborhood disadvantage and children's cognitive skill trajectories. CHILDREN AND YOUTH SERVICES REVIEW 2020; 116:105231. [PMID: 32834271 PMCID: PMC7347335 DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2020] [Revised: 06/30/2020] [Accepted: 07/01/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
This study examined how neighborhood poverty is associated with children's trajectories of growth in math and reading skills in early elementary school, and how these associations vary by student characteristics, using multilevel growth models with nationally representative data from the 2011 Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort. About one-quarter (25.6%) of children lived in communities of concentrated poverty. Findings suggest that achievement gaps by neighborhood disadvantage are large and present before Kindergarten, shrink during the Kindergarten year, but then widen the year following, and remain relatively consistent in the first years of elementary school. Growth in math skills appeared to vary more with neighborhood poverty than growth in reading skills. There was limited evidence that the relationship between neighborhood poverty and test score trajectories varied by child race, ethnicity, early education and Kindergarten experience, and parents' immigration status, but growth differences across student characteristics were small. Policy and research implications are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katie Vinopal
- The John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University, 1810 College Road, Columbus, OH 43210, United States
| | - Taryn W Morrissey
- Department of Public Administration and Policy, School of Public Affairs, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20016, United States
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Goldfeld S, O’Connor M, Cloney D, Gray S, Redmond G, Badland H, Williams K, Mensah F, Woolfenden S, Kvalsvig A, Kochanoff AT. Understanding child disadvantage from a social determinants perspective. J Epidemiol Community Health 2017; 72:223-229. [DOI: 10.1136/jech-2017-209036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2017] [Revised: 11/08/2017] [Accepted: 11/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
BackgroundChild health and developmental inequities exist in all countries. Comprehensive and robust concepts of disadvantage are fundamental to growing an evidence base that can reveal the extent of inequities in childhood, and identify modifiable leverage points for change. We conceptualise and test a multidimensional framework of child disadvantage aligned to a social determinants and bioecological perspective.MethodsThe Longitudinal Study of Australian Children is a nationally representative sample of two cohorts of Australian children, including the birth cohort of 5107 infants, which commenced in May 2004. The analysis focused on disadvantage indicators collected at age 4–5 years. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test a theoretically informed model of disadvantage. Concurrent validity was examined through associations with academic performance at 8–9 years.ResultsThe model comprising four latent factors of sociodemographic (10 indicators), geographical environments (three indicators), health conditions (three indicators) and risk factors (14 indicators) was found to provide a better fit for the data than alternative models. Each factor was associated with academic performance, providing evidence of concurrent validity.ConclusionThe study provides a theoretically informed and empirically tested framework for operationalising relative child disadvantage. Understanding and addressing inequities will be facilitated by capturing the complexity of children’s experiences of disadvantage across the multiple environments in which their development unfolds.
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Villanueva K, Badland H, Kvalsvig A, O'Connor M, Christian H, Woolcock G, Giles-Corti B, Goldfeld S. Can the Neighborhood Built Environment Make a Difference in Children's Development? Building the Research Agenda to Create Evidence for Place-Based Children's Policy. Acad Pediatr 2016; 16:10-9. [PMID: 26432681 DOI: 10.1016/j.acap.2015.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2014] [Revised: 09/15/2015] [Accepted: 09/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Healthy child development is determined by a combination of physical, social, family, individual, and environmental factors. Thus far, the majority of child development research has focused on the influence of individual, family, and school environments and has largely ignored the neighborhood context despite the increasing policy interest. Yet given that neighborhoods are the locations where children spend large periods of time outside of home and school, it is plausible the physical design of neighborhoods (built environment), including access to local amenities, can affect child development. The relatively few studies exploring this relationship support associations between child development and neighborhood destinations, green spaces, interaction with nature, traffic exposure, and housing density. These studies emphasize the need to more deeply understand how child development outcomes might be influenced by the neighborhood built environment. Pursuing this research space is well aligned with the current global movements on livable and child-friendly cities. It has direct public policy impact by informing planning policies across a range of sectors (urban design and planning, transport, public health, and pediatrics) to implement place-based interventions and initiatives that target children's health and development at the community level. We argue for the importance of exploring the effect of the neighborhood built environment on child development as a crucial first step toward informing urban design principles to help reduce developmental vulnerability in children and to set optimal child development trajectories early.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Villanueva
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; McCaughey VicHealth Community Well-being Unit, School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Hannah Badland
- McCaughey VicHealth Community Well-being Unit, School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Amanda Kvalsvig
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Meredith O'Connor
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Hayley Christian
- Centre for the Built Environment and Health, School of Population Health, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | | | - Billie Giles-Corti
- McCaughey VicHealth Community Well-being Unit, School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Sharon Goldfeld
- Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Pediatrics, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
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