Healthy development during preschool: Examining the roles of outdoor time, light exposure and popularity
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- Psykologisk institutt [4384]
Abstract
Contemporary models of health development highlight the importance of understanding health as a developmental process that continues throughout life and can be modified during developmental windows or by crucial events. Health is viewed as unfolding and resulting from multilevel, adaptive and bidirectional interactions between children and their physical and social environments. Healthy development occurs when there is harmony between biological, cultural, and psychological processes, and evolution has made health phenotypes malleable to enhance adaptability to the various environments that children may encounter. Based on this framework, the present thesis examines protective factors in the physical and social environment of preschool, as well as how they relate to children´s health status and development. We report our findings that exposure to daylight and the outdoor environment is associated with positive short- and long-term cognitive and behavioural outcomes, and that children´s social environments may play a role in the risk of attracting infectious diseases. These associations are of a complex nature, with non-linear, dose-response influences operating on multiple levels.List of papers
Paper I. Ulset, V. S., Vitaro, F., Brendgen, M., Bekkhus, M., & Borge, A. I. H. (2017). Time spent outdoors during preschool: Links with children's cognitive and behavioral development. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 52, 69-80. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.05.007. The article is included in the thesis. Also available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.05.007 |
Paper II. Ulset, V. S., Czajkowski, N.O., Staton, S., Smith, S., Pattison, C., Allen, A., Thorpe, K., Bekkhus, M. (2019). Environmental light exposure, circadian stability, and symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity: An observational study of Australian preschoolers. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 73, 101560. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101560. The paper is included in the thesis. Also available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101560 |
Paper III. Ulset, V. S., Czajkowski, N. O., Kraft, B., Kraft, P., Wikenius, E., Kleppestø, T. H., & Bekkhus, M. (2019). Are unpopular children more likely to get sick? Longitudinal links between popularity and infectious diseases in early childhood. PloS one, 14(9), e0222222. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222222. The article is included in the thesis. Also available in DUO: http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-79046 |