School air pollution and executive functioning development among low-income kindergarteners

The present study examines the associations between toxic industrial air pollution around elementary schools and children's executive functioning (EF) skill development among a racially and ethnically diverse sample of kindergarteners from low-income families in Tulsa, Oklahoma (N = 763; 50% female; 52% Hispanic/Latinx, 18% Black, 13% White, 10% multiracial, 6% American Indian, 1% Asian American/Pacific Islander). Data on ambient industrial pollution were derived from the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory and geo-matched to children's schools. Children's EF was directly assessed: Specifically, two dimensions of EF-inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility-were measured by trained assessors three times between the fall of kindergarten and the fall of first grade using tasks from the National Institutes of Health Toolbox. Longitudinal mixed models predicted children's EF skill development from their schools' national percentile of toxicity-weighted air pollution. Results suggest that although there were no differences by school pollution in children's EF skills at the start of kindergarten-suggesting that the role of school pollution in children's EF development is distinct from the role of residential pollution-higher levels of school pollution were associated with slower growth in inhibitory control across the subsequent year, even after adjusting for a rich set of child and school covariates. There were no differences by school pollution in children's rate of growth in cognitive flexibility. Researchers should continue to investigate the potentially understudied role of the physical environment in shaping children's EF and self-regulatory development, including malleable features of the school environment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).