title: The associations of indoor environment and psychosocial factors on the subjective evaluation of Indoor Air Quality among lower secondary school students: a multilevel analysis.
abstract: Subjective evaluation of Indoor Air Quality (subjective IAQ) reflects both building-related and psychosocial factors, but their associations have rarely been studied other than on the individual level in occupational settings and their interactions have not been assessed. Therefore, we studied whether schools' observed indoor air problems and psychosocial factors are associated with subjective IAQ and their potential interactions. The analysis was performed with a nationwide sample (N = 195 schools/26946 students) using multilevel modeling. Two datasets were merged: (i) survey data from students, including information on schools' psychosocial environment and subjective IAQ, and (ii) data from school principals, including information on observed indoor air problems. On the student level, school-related stress, poor teacher-student relationship, and whether the student did not easily receive help from school personnel, were significantly associated with poor subjective IAQ. On the school level, observed indoor air problem (standardized β = -0.43) and poor teacher-student relationship (standardized β = -0.22) were significant predictors of poor subjective IAQ. In addition, school-related stress was associated with poor subjective IAQ, but only in schools without observed indoor air problem (standardized β = -0.44).
authors.affiliation: School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Finell
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Protection, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Haverinen-Shaughnessy
authors.affiliation: Methodology Centre for Human Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tolvanen
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laaksonen
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Social Care Systems, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karvonen
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Research, Centre for Research Methods, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sund
authors.affiliation: Department of Welfare, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Saaristo
authors.affiliation: Department of Welfare, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Luopa
authors.affiliation: Department of Welfare, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ståhl
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Putus
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Protection, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Kuopio, Finland.|Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pekkanen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D055361:Multilevel Analysis; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Indoor Air Quality; Indoor air problems; Lower secondary school; Multilevel analysis; Psychosocial environment; Stress