Association between Air Quality and Children’s Restorative Experience: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Prior studies conducted within the realm of environmental psychology and public health have shown that air pollution exposure exerts significant effects on both physical and psychological well-being, especially for children. The roles of air pollution exposure are being increasingly recognized as essential factors influencing children’s restoration. This systematic review provides an overview of existing knowledge of the impact of air pollution on children’s mental health and restorative experience in both outdoor and indoor environments. A list of keywords for paper selection was derived from a systematic investigation of the literature on children’s restorative environments. A total of 228 studies were initially identified, 18 of which met the eligibility criteria. This systematic review summarizes distinctive categories of air pollutants and discusses the assessments for both air pollution exposure and children’s restorative outcomes. Additionally, 16 barriers in air pollution exposure to children’s restorative experience were identified. The findings of this systematic review were concluded in an integrated framework, which have important implications for developing evidence-based and cross-disciplinary research on the air quality and children’s restoration.

Keywords

• air pollution
• particulate matter
• children’s perceived restorativeness
• mental health outcome
• environmental evaluation
• attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder