The effects of daily air pollution on affect in adolescents: An ecological momentary assessment study

Air pollution is a global threat to health and is particularly harmful to adolescents. To date, however, our understanding of the immediate effects of air pollution on adolescents' emotional functioning is limited. In this ecological momentary assessment study, we assessed daily levels of air quality across a two-week period in 158 adolescents (M_Age = 16.1 years) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Adolescents reported on their levels of positive and negative affect and their experiences of stress three times per day, resulting in 4113 observations. We examined associations of daily levels of four major air pollutants (carbon monoxide [CO], nitrogen dioxide [NO₂], ozone [O₃], and particulate matter <2.5 μm [PM_2.5]) with adolescents' same- and next-day ratings of the levels of their affect, the lability of their affect, and their affective reactivity to reported stressors. We found that on days with higher levels of NO₂ and O₃, adolescents reported lower levels of positive affect. On both the same and the following day, higher levels of O₃ were associated with greater lability of positive affect, and higher levels of CO and PM_2.5 were associated with greater lability of both positive and negative affect. Finally, on days with higher CO and PM_2.5, as well as on the following day, adolescents reported having more negative affect after experiencing stressful situations. These findings elucidate the effects of different forms of air pollution on daily emotional functioning in adolescents and underscore the need to identify mechanistic pathways that might mediate these associations.