ArticleEnvironmental research2022
Blood lead levels mediate the relationship between social adversity and child externalizing behavior.
Article in Environmental research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Lead exposure and antisocial behavior: A systematic review of human and animal evidence.Environment international · 2025Pooled it
- Association between potential lead exposure assessed using a screening questionnaire and aggressive behaviour among adolescents in Jakarta, Indonesia: a cross-sectional study.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Externalizing behaviors in children living near coal-fired power plants.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Impact of early adolescent lead exposure on brain function and response: Findings from a Chinese cohort.Neurotoxicology · 2025Article
- Methods in Public Health Environmental Justice Research: a Scoping Review from 2018 to 2021.Current environmental health reports · 2023Article
- Review
- Association between lower-level of environmental lead exposure and reactive and proactive aggression in youth: Sex differences.Journal of environmental science and health. Part C, Toxicology and carcinogenesis · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
aimsThe association between social adversity and externalizing behavioral problems in children is well-documented. What is much less researched are biological mechanisms that may mediate such relationships. This study examines the hypothesis that low blood lead mediates the relationship between social adversity and child externalizing behavior problems.
methodsIn this cross-sectional study, participants were 131 children aged 11-12 years (mean = 11.90) from Philadelphia, US. A venous fasting blood sample was taken and analyzed for blood lead levels. A social adversity index was calculated based on 10 total indicators derived from a psychosocial interview of the parent and official neighborhood data, while child behavior outcomes (internalizing and externalizing behavior) were assessed using both parent-report and child self-report.
resultsThe mean blood lead level was 2.20 μg/dL. Both relatively higher blood lead levels and higher social adversity scores were associated with higher levels of parent-reported and child self-reported externalizing behaviors. Additionally, blood lead mediated the relationship between social adversity and child-reported externalizing behavior (Indirect effect: B = 0.03, 95% CI: 0.004, 0.09) and partially mediated the relationship between social adversity and parent-reported externalizing behavior (Indirect Effect: B = 0.03, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.07).
conclusionTo our knowledge, this study is the first to suggest that blood lead levels play a mediating role in the relationship between externalizing behavior problems and social adversity. Findings have potentially important implications for public health and environmental regulation as well as understanding biological mechanisms that link social inequality with health outcomes, especially in youth from low-income, urban areas.
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