Investigation Into the Physical Environmental Correlates of Aggressive Behaviour in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDDs)

Background: Physical environmental influences on childhood aggression in children with neurodevelopmental disabilities is a severely under-researched research locus. The aim of this doctorate was to elucidate specific associations between children’s developmental environment and aggressive behaviours, using this evidence to reciprocally inform an experimental psychology project to investigate underlying mechanisms. To explore these effects, the programme of study was broadly divided into three reflexive workstreams using diverse research methodologies. Methods: In the first workstream, I conducted a systematic review of the current literature examining physical environmental influences on childhood aggressive behaviours in both typically developing children (aged 0 – 18) and those diagnosed with NDDs. The literature on children with NDDs was substantially limited in comparison to peers without NDDs. The second workstream was comprised of a large-scale secondary data analysis (multiply imputed growth curve modelling) to investigate environmental influences on conduct problems across early development. I used data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to assess how physical environmental metrics, such as neighbourhood greenspace, air pollution, household crowding, and presence of home damp influenced the development and severity of conduct problems in children with (n=8013) and without NDDs (n=155) between the ages of 3 – 11 years. Finally, building upon evidence from the previous two workstreams, I designed a proof-of-principle psychological experiment to examine the influence of urban nature exposure on children with NDDs. Specifically, simulating a real-world urban greenspace using a Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory (PEARL). This facilitated the ability to manipulate and isolate individual environmental aspects of urban nature exposure (light, sound, and projection). Following ethical review and approval, I recruited 3 children (100% male) with mild and moderate intellectual disability aged between 12 – 15 years (Mean age = 14) attending a local school for children with special educational needs. We examined their physiological reactions to four simulated urban green space aspects (light, sound, landscape projections, and vegetation) against a baseline control condition. I also collected demographic information on parent reported aggressive behaviours, exposure to local greenspace(s), physical and mental health history, medication, and adaptive behaviours (ABAS-3). This research lays the foundation for future large scale experimental paradigms that can disentangle the effects of nature exposure in these children, with the aim of translating these findings into real world therapeutic design interventions and relevant policy changes to improve the quality of the built environment for these children. Findings: From articles retrieved from my systematic review I found evidence for the beneficial influences of nature in both populations, and simultaneously negative effects of both noise and air pollution in typically developing children only. Evidence for other environmental aspects such as crowding, music, urbanicity, meteorology, and interior design had either insufficient or inconsistent evidence to extrapolate concreate conclusions. More evidence on the effect of these exposures on child aggression outcomes is recommended. From the analysis of the MCS cohort I found various sociodemographic factors (ethnicity, sex, poverty, family structure, maternal distress) and internal residential conditions were associated with increased childhood conduct problem trajectories in both groups of children. I also discovered potential evidence of a moderating influence effect of intellectual disability on the relationship between spatial density and conduct problems. From the final experimental project, I report preliminary evidence for the influence of urban greenspaces to reduce physiological arousal in children with complex neurodisability profiles. Initial evidence for the hierarchical nature of urban greenspace sensorial aspects was reported, for example: that urban nature soundscapes maybe a more influential environmental stimuli than lighting or landscape projections. Conclusion: Drawing together multi-disciplinary research methodologies facilitated the ability to identify disparities in research examining physical environmental determinants of aggression in neurodiverse child populations. Reciprocally, the systematic review and secondary data analysis contributed incrementally to filling this lacuna of research. Using findings from these two work streams, I identified that exploring the potentially therapeutic influences of urban nature exposure on children with neurodevelopmental disorders may provide novel indicators of its aetiological mechanisms. I reported original findings supporting these research aims, elucidating the potential hierarchical nature of urban greenspace elements. This was also the first study of its kind reporting the potential for simulated urban park spaces to reduce physiological arousal in neurodivergent children with aggressive behavioural difficulties