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The impact of black carbon (BC) on mode-specific galvanic skin response (GSR) as a measure of stress in urban environments
Yang, Xiuleng Orjuela, Juan McCoy, Emma Vich, Guillem Anaya-Boig, Esther Avila-Palencia, Ione Brand, Christian Carrasco-Turigas, Gloria Dons, Evi Gerike, Regine
Yang, Xiuleng
Orjuela, Juan
McCoy, Emma
Vich, Guillem
Anaya-Boig, Esther
Avila-Palencia, Ione
Brand, Christian
Carrasco-Turigas, Gloria
Dons, Evi
Gerike, Regine
Abstract
Previous research has shown that walking and cycling could help alleviate stress in cities, however there is poor knowledge on how specific microenvironmental conditions encountered during daily journeys may lead to varying degrees of stress experienced at that moment. We use objectively measured data and a robust causal inference framework to address this gap. Using a Bayesian Doubly Robust (BDR) approach, we find that black carbon exposure statistically significantly increases stress, as measured by Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), while cycling and while walking. Augmented Outcome Regression (AOR) models indicate that greenspace exposure and the presence of walking or cycling infrastructure could reduce stress. None of these effects are statistically significant for people in motorized transport. These findings add to a growing evidence-base on health benefits of policies aimed at decreasing air pollution, improving active travel infrastructure and increasing greenspace in cities.
Keywords
Active travel, Air pollution, Built environment, Causal inference, Stress, Urban planning
Date
2022
Type
Journal article
Journal
Book
Volume
214
Issue
Part 4
Page Range
1-10
Article Number
ACU Department
Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Collections
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access
Open
Notes
Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).