Racial Disparities in Childhood Exposure to Neurotoxic Air Pollution

Racial disparities in exposure to pollution exacerbate health and developmental inequalities. This study examines racial differences in cumulative exposure to a comprehensive set of neurotoxic air pollutants during early childhood, when individuals are especially vulnerable to their harms, and it investigates whether these disparities are attributable to or intersect with socioeconomic status (SES). Integrating the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort with data on industrial-source and criteria air pollutants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, we estimate Gini coefficients to quantify racial inequality in pollution exposure and employ inverse probability weighting and other intersectional analyses to explore their link with SES. Our findings reveal large racial disparities in exposure to neurotoxic pollutants from birth through kindergarten entry, with Black and Hispanic children consistently exposed at the highest levels. Although socioeconomic factors do not explain these disparities, they do interact with them, resulting in more pronounced racial differences among children of lower SES.