Background: Physical characteristics and perceptions of an environment can have enduring effects on one's mental health. The present study aimed to determine whether a set of measures of neighborhood safety - independent built environment features, parents' perception of neighborhood safety and community cohesion, and children's perception of neighborhood safety - best related to symptoms of depression in young boys and girls from Montréal, Québec.
Methods: Data were from the Quebec Adipose and Lifestyle Investigation in Youth (QUALITY) cohort.
Canada has been a pioneer in adopting a harm reduction approach to address risks associated with drug use for people who inject drugs. Today, Canada is home to 39 supervised injection sites spread throughout the country. The scientific literature demonstrates, unequivocally, that these sites have numerous health benefits for people who inject drugs, namely by decreasing risks of blood-borne diseases, overdose, and mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic has exposed large segments of the global population to the experience of restricted freedoms. In Canada, COVID-19-related measures led to a decrease of mobility within the country, prohibiting access to public and private spaces for prolonged periods of time. This study addresses the effects of the pandemic and related restrictions on views of imprisonment, drawing on a sample of individuals who took part in a tour of the HI Ottawa Jail Hostel (N = 102) in pre- and peri-COVID-19 contexts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNight time lighting (NTL) pollution is a public health concern given its known impact on a range of health outcomes. The daily cycle of the hue of natural ambient light shifting from relatively blue-white light at noon to relatively yellow-red light at sunset is important for human functioning. Disruptions of the circadian clock can result in melatonin suppression, sleep and mood disorders, and increased risks of cancer in adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDietary habits are important precursors of childhood obesity. Youths' dietary habits may be constrained by the experience of deprivation due to social (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Classroom engagement is a key indicator of student motivation, learning potential, and the eventual probability of persisting to high-school completion. This study investigated whether feeling unsafe at school interferes with classroom engagement and simultaneously considered whether this association is mediated by poorer student well-being in the form of experiencing symptoms of depression and demonstrating aggressive behavior problems.
Methods: Data were from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, an ongoing study that began in 1998 with a population-based cohort of 2,120 Quebec 5-month-old infants.
This study applied socioecological and cumulative risk exposure frameworks to test the hypotheses that 1) the experience of poverty is associated with feeling less safe at school, and 2) feeling less safe is associated with engaging in poorer weight-related behaviors, as well as an increased probability of being overweight or obese. Data were from the ongoing Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, initiated in 1998 with a population-based cohort of 2,120 Québec (Canada) infants 5 months of age and their parent or primary caregiver. Measures of youths' (age, 13 years) self-reported feelings of safety, screen time, physical activity, and objectively assessed not overweight/obese (70%), overweight (22%), and obese (8%) weight status were collected in 2011.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParent and child perceived neighborhood safety predicts child health outcomes such as sleep quality, asthma, physical activity, and psychological distress. Although previous studies identify environmental predictors of parent perceived safety, little is known about predictors of child perceived safety. This study aims to identify the social and physical environmental neighborhood features that predict child and parent perceived neighborhood safety and, simultaneously, to assess the association between child and parent perceptions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough disadvantaged youth are more likely to be victimized at school, victimization only partly explains their decreased feelings of safety at school. We applied a socioecological approach to test the hypotheses that the experience of poverty is associated with decreased feelings of safety at school, and that residential neighborhood features partly mediate the relationship between poverty and feeling less safe at school. This study draws on the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) which began in 1998 with a representative population-based cohort of 2,120 5-month old infants (49.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe human ability to "mind-read" is fundamental in social interaction (e.g., contributing to the experience of empathy).
View Article and Find Full Text PDF© LitMetric 2025. All rights reserved.