Air Pollutants and Wellbeing
Higher particulate matter in the air corresponds to slightly lower wellbeing, but it’s clear my data set is too small.
I wish these results were more conclusive. Unfortunately, the air quality data I found on AirNow.gov doesn’t provide a lot of granularity. There were 8 unique zipcodes in my dataset, but only 3 air quality values. This one’s for Ozone. It shows that a higher ozone level in the air means a slightly lower wellbeing.
And this one’s for PM 2.5. The trend line shows that the higher the particulate level, the lower the wellbeing. I want to get a larger data set over a larger geographical area in order to feel more confident in the results.
Does feeling safe in your neighborhood or school influence wellbeing?
The more teens feel safe in their neighborhood and school, the higher they report their wellbeing.
As part of my initial survey, I asked participants to rate how safe they felt their schools and neighborhoods were for all students.
I found that although students tended to rate their school higher on average than their neighborhood, there was a more significant correlation between a participant’s neighborhood rating and their wellbeing. There were positive links between participants’ feelings about both their schools and their neighborhoods and their reported wellbeing. However, there seemed to be a weaker correlation between the way they felt about their school (r(15) = 0.4108, p = 0.1014) than the way they felt about their neighborhood (r(15) = 0.464, p = 0.0606).
One interesting aspect of these results is that my wellbeing results did not correlate with zipcode. Of my most represented zipcode (which happened to be the same one as my school), there were roughly equal responses across my total wellbeing range. This suggests that a person’s wellbeing is more closely linked to their perception of their environment than how it actually treats them, as there is still a correlation between how participants rated their neighborhood and their wellbeing score.
What is wellbeing? (And How Can We Measure It)
Wellbeing encompasses several specific aspects of our condition, including satisfaction, happiness, and quality of life. It’s tricky to measure, because it needs to be largely self-reported. However, this aspect makes it easier for someone like me to gather data on it, because I just need a good survey.
Wellbeing encompasses several specific aspects of our condition, including satisfaction, happiness, and quality of life. It’s tricky to measure, because it needs to be largely self-reported. However, this aspect makes it easier for someone like me to gather data on it, because I just need a good survey.
Wellbeing is important in several theories of psychology, and has several specific definitions. For the purposes of this research, I decided to use the Flourishing model, popularized by Martin Seligman. The idea of flourishing is used in positive psychology and requires a balance of several aspects of wellbeing. The exact aspects are prone to some variation, but generally include happiness, quality of relationships, sense of purpose, and life satisfaction. My wellbeing questionnaire is adapted from Tyler J. Vanderweele’s Flourishing Measure as part of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. Vanderweele breaks wellbeing into the following six categories:
Happiness and life satisfaction
Physical and mental health
Meaning and purpose
Character and virtue
Close social relationships
Financial and Material Stability
Each category has two questions that participants answer on a scale from 0 to 10. Each question is weighted equally, with a total of 120 potential points. This results in each participant producing a numerical value for their overall wellbeing that can then be plotted against other factors. Here’s an example question:
6. To what extent do you agree with the following statement: I understand my purpose in life.
(0 = Strongly Disagree; 10 = Strongly Agree)
And the responses I got on my initial survey:
The median answer was 5, with the 25th and 75th percentiles being 3 and 6, respectively.
Here’s another one:
9. To what extent do you agree with the following statement: I am content with my friendships and romantic relationships.
I think the bimodal distribution in this one speaks for itself.
Clearly, my initial study was on a much smaller scale than would be necessary to draw meaningful conclusions from. However, the success I had with these few responses shows me that it’s ready to be applied on a larger scale [link Next Steps page].
Lastly, here’s a summary of my results, plus the exact questions I asked:
