The Association between Neighborhoods’ Characteristics and Stress in Children: Evidence from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Abstract

Studies show the prevalence of children’s stress in Malaysia is nearly 50% but it is higher compared to the WHO expected figure of health problems which is about 20%. Everyday stress in urban areas is defined as the frustrating demands that daily interaction with the environment create and the continuous experience of these stressors can affect health of the individual from childhood. Certain groups like children are more vulnerable to some of the hazards of urbanization, and now the challenge is how to grow them in ways that are healthy and environmentally sustainable as massive growth of urban population in next decades is faced in Malaysia. The main aims of this study are: 1) To construct a Children Stress Index capable of explaining variation in health on a small-scale geographic level in Malaysia. 2) To conduct a methodological review of multilevel studies, monitoring for different Socio-Economic Status to evaluate underlying mechanism through which neighborhoods affect children’s stress. 3) To investigate a meta-analysis method to find the associations between neighborhoods’ characteristics in different socioeconomic status with children’s health stressors/all-cause stress. Qualitative and quantitative research methods implemented for this research. Data collection was from expected 500 children, 10-12 years old in Malaysia and it included standardized questionnaire (survey), interviewing, mapping through software such as AutoCAD and ArcGIS. Collected data analyse with factor group analysis method and regression model through SPSS. This study would be an attempts to focus on urban planning to recognize and moderate stress in urban children and exploring family environment and connectedness as potential mediators of stress in children and it can remarkably help to cognizing of causes and effects of children’s stress in current situation and also can be implemented in the future plans of Malaysia.