Francesconi and colleagues studied links between environmental conditions and child development. They found that “neighbourhood disorder was associated with emotional symptoms and conduct problems at age 3 and with the trajectory of cognitive ability from ages 3 to 11. . . . Neighbourhood disorder is broadly taken to refer to observed or perceived physical and social features of neighbourhoods that may signal the breakdown of order and social control, and that can undermine the quality of life. In our study, it was assessed by . . . interviewers who reported the presence in the immediate local area of features such as dog mess, litter, graffiti, hostile arguing on the street, vandalised cars and run-down buildings. . . . we found that greater neighbourhood disorder was associated with: (i) higher levels of emotional symptoms at the starting point (intercept) of their trajectory at age 3, (ii) higher levels of conduct problems at age 3 and (iii) lower cognitive ability across ages 3 to 11.”
Marta Francesconi, Eirini Flouri, and James Kirkbridge. 2022. “The Role of the Built Environment in the Trajectories of Cognitive Ability and Mental Health Across Early and Middle Childhood: Results from a Street Audit Tool in a General-Population Birth Cohort.” Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 82, 101847, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101847