Polluting Student Test Performance: School-Based Evidence on the Adverse effects of Air Pollution

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between air pollution and children’s performance on cognitive tests, focusing on characteristics of individuals often assumed to be stable, such as cognitive ability and cognitive effort. Against the backdrop of mounting environmental concerns and policies striving for sustainable cities and inclusive communities, it aims to answer two main questions: (i) whether air pollution is negatively associated with children’s performance on tests of cognitive ability and cognitive effort, and (ii) whether socioeconomic status moderates these associations, or in other words, whether poor air quality dispropor-tionately thwarts the development of disadvantaged children. Specifically, we examine the influence of four different pollutants (CO, NO2, O3 and PM2.5) and two different test out-comes: children’s cognitive ability and effort. We hypothesize that air pollution reduces performance on both tests, and that children with low socioeconomic status may be more susceptible to adverse pollution effects, as high SES families may have ways to compensate for the air pollution their children are exposed to at school. By combining data on 1,368 fifth-grade students (around age 11) from a lab-in-the-field study in Madrid and Berlin with air pollution data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and weather data from the E-OBS dataset, the study employs multilevel linear mixed models to investigate how cumulative air pollution is associated with cognitive ability and effort across different pollutants and time spans of cumulative pollution. The results show significant negative relationships between cumulative air pollution and both cognitive ability and effort, with the strongest association observed between cumulative ozone exposure two months prior to the test and cognitive ability. In contrast to our second hypothesis, no heterogeneous effects are found by socioeconomic status.This research has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 758600)