Publications
Publications
This study examines how the presence of outdoor areas such as parks and playgrounds affects children’s well-being and how this effect is moderated by families’ socioeconomic status. Specifically, I aim to answer two research questions. First, does the presence of outdoor areas in children’s neighborhoods affect their well-being? Second, is there a differential effect depending on children’s socioeconomic status? The main part of the study uses data from the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being. The results suggest that the presence of outdoor areas in children’s neighborhoods has a positive effect on their well-being. In addition, the estimated effect of outdoor areas is larger for children from families with low socioeconomic status. Finally, findings from the Growing Up in Ireland data set suggest that children’s mental problems are a plausible mechanism through which outdoor areas affect children’s well-being. These findings have meaningful policy implications. Efforts to provide access to appropriate outdoor areas may be more likely to benefit disadvantaged children and thus reduce inequality in children’s well-being.
Presented at: ECSR Annual Conference 2023, RC28 Paris 2023.
This paper fills a notable gap in the existing literature on birth outcomes and extreme temperatures by examining the causal moderating effect of energy prices on the impact of extreme temperatures during pregnancy on birth weight. It uses a sharp increase in energy prices that occurred in Spain in March 2021 as identification strategy and incorporates a new weather dataset that increases the number of monitors from which temperature information is derived in previous research by more than six-fold. The results show that the negative effects of extreme temperatures on birth weight are amplified at higher energy prices, especially for mothers of lower socioeconomic status. By focusing on how energy prices moderate the impact of extreme temperatures on birth outcomes, opportunities arise for policy interventions aimed at reducing health inequalities at birth. Moreover, given the critical role that events in utero play in individuals’ later development, such policies have the potential not only to reduce health inequalities at birth, but also to address broader inequalities in long-term outcomes.
Presented at: PAA Annual Meeting 2024, EPC 2024.
With Josep Serrano-Serrat. (Conditionally Accepted at European Sociological Review)
This study examines how childhood emotions, traits, and behaviors influence concerns about gender inequality and racism in young adulthood. Drawing on the social psychology and social science literature, it examines whether childhood behavioral traits measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) influence concerns about discrimination. Using the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal dataset, the study shows that internalizing behaviors in childhood (such as loneliness and frequent worry) correlate positively with later concerns about discrimination, while externalizing behaviors (such as strong temperament and impulsivity) show a negative correlation. Finally, individuals with stronger prosocial traits are more concerned about racism. When analyzing whether the results are socially stratified, we show that they are more pronounced for native males. The results suggest that childhood experiences shape political attitudes before political preferences crystallize and underscore the importance of understanding the developmental origins of discrimination concerns.
Presented at: EPSA 2025
With Jonas Radl. (Revise & Resubmit)
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) to what extent 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 disproportionately thwarts the development of disadvantaged children. Specifically, we examine the influence of four different pollutants (CO, NO$_2$, O$_3$ and PM$_{2.5}$) and two different test outcomes: children's fluid intelligence assessed through the Raven's progressive matrices test and cognitive effort as captured on behavioral tasks testing executive function. 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. The study combines individual 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 using varying time spans of cumulative pollution from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. Results from linear hierarchical models show significant negative relationships between some cumulative air pollution measures 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.
Presented at: ECSR Annual Conference 2024, MESS Inaugural Workshop 2024, ECSR Annual Conference 2024, Effort and Social Inequality ECSR Thematic Conference 2023.
With Risto Conte Keivabu. (Revise & Resubmit)
Climate change is increasing fire-conducive weather conditions worldwide determining higher risks of wildfire exposure. Despite growing research on the impact of wildfires on health outcomes, studies on birth outcomes, socio-demographic heterogeneities and for the European context are lacking. This study examines the impact of wildfires on birth outcomes in Spain, a country facing multiple climate change-related health risks. We use Spanish administrative data covering approximately 3.5 million live births between 2008 and 2021. This dataset is combined with precise measurements of wildfire exposure based on data from the European Forest Fires Information System. We observe a decrease in birth weight and an increase in the probability of low birth weight due to wildfire exposure during pregnancy, with the effect concentrated in the third trimester of pregnancy. The results show no significant differences between socio-demographic groups, suggesting a uniform impact of wildfire exposure. We also examine the role of wildfire-induced air pollution, particularly PM$_{2.5}$ , and find that PM$_{2.5}$ also contributes to adverse birth outcomes, suggesting that both maternal stress and air pollution pose dangers to fetal development. The findings underscore the need for public health interventions aimed at mitigating the health effects of wildfires on vulnerable populations, particularly pregnant women.
With Josep Serrano-Serrat.
This study examines the validity of different measurement methods for assessing personality traits and their implications for studying political preferences. Using longitudinal data from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) dataset, we compare self-reports, parental reports, lagged self-reports, and an instrumental variable approach to understand how these methods capture the Big Five personality traits and their association with political attitudes. Our results show substantial discrepancies between self-reports and parental evaluations, with parental ratings showing low stability over time and limited predictive power for political outcomes. These results highlight the importance of accounting for measurement error and call into question the reliability of third-party assessments, such as parental reports, in personality research.
Presented at: EPSA 2025
This study examines the intersection of extreme temperatures and socioeconomic status (SES) in shaping disparities in children's academic performance. As climate change accelerates, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and their effects disproportionately affect populations from lower SES backgrounds who are more vulnerable to such environmental stressors. Existing research suggests that extreme temperatures negatively impact academic performance, but little is known about how these impacts affect different SES groups. The present study aims to fill that gap by examining how children’s SES moderates the relationship between exposure to extreme temperatures and their test scores in Italian and mathematics. Using data from the Italian National Institute for the Evaluation of Education (INVALSI), I analyze the academic performance of fifth-grade students from 2017 to 2023 together with weather data from the E-OBS dataset. The study hypothesizes that children from families with higher SES are better able to mitigate the effects of extreme temperatures because they have better access to resources such as cooling systems and safe environments. Preliminary results suggest that extreme temperatures have a significant negative impact on academic performance, especially for children from lower SES families. This study contributes to understanding how climate change exacerbates inequalities in education and highlights the need for targeted interventions that take into account the compounding effects of climate change and socioeconomic factors.
Presented at: ECSR Annual Conference 2025
Maria Rubio Cabañez