Examining inequities in children’s environmental health: results of a survey on the risk perceptions and protective actions of new mothers

Figures & data

Figure 1. Study sites, Peel Region and Ottawa PHUs, Ontario, Canada.

Table 1. Sample characteristics.

Characteristic	Peel (n = 280)		Ottawa (n = 326)		Total
	%	(n)	%	(n)	%	(n)
Household income
≥$120,000	21.5	(51)	40.8	(125)	32.4	(176)
$80–119,999	36.7	(87)	32.7	(100)	34.4	(187)
$40–79,999	20.3	(48)	19.0	(58)	19.5	(106)
<$40,000	21.5	(51)	7.5	(23)	13.6	(74)
Education
Graduate degree	24.2	(67)	32.6	(107)	28.8	(174)
Bachelor’s degree	31.0	(86)	39.6	(130)	35.7	(216)
College	27.4	(76)	17.7	(58)	22.1	(134)
High school or less	17.3	(48)	10.1	(33)	13.4	(81)
Married/common law	90.6	(252)	95.1	(312)	93.1	(564)
Immigrant	57.6	(160)	23.2	(76)	38.9	(236)
Visible minority	35.7	(95)	19.5	(64)	26.8	(159)
First language English or French	49.6	(137)	80.5	(264)	66.4	(401)
First child	54.0	(150)	56.7	(186)	55.4	(336)
Mean age (years)	31		31

Table 2. First mentions of environmental health hazards heard or read about.

Hazards	n	%
Hazardous products	112	19.8
Cleaning and household products	58	10.2
Plastics and canned goods	26	4.6
Other products^a	28	4.9
Outdoor environment	51	9.0
Air quality^b	17	3.0
Water quality^b	15	2.7
Other outdoor hazards^c	19	3.4
Indoor air quality^d	45	7.9
Food^e	45	7.9
Radiation technology	10	1.8
Extreme heat/sun exposure	6	1.1
Non-environmental hazards^f	36	6.4
None	262	46.2

^a E.g. Chemicals in beauty products, paint, lead, flame retardants.

^b E.g. Pollution/contaminants.

^c E.g. Fertilizers/pesticides in green spaces, dumps, landfills.

^d E.g. Cigarette smoke (2nd, 3rd hand), dust, carbon monoxide, asbestos.

^e E.g. Mercury in seafood, toxins/additives in foods, foods to avoid when pregnant.

^f Hazards not commonly considered environmental such as alcohol, caffeine, medication, crib safety, vaccines, stress, illness.

Table 3. Bivariate cross-tabulations for mothers’ levels of general environmental health concern and protective action.

Characteristics	General concern		Protective action
	High/moderate	Low/none	High/moderate	Low/none
	% (n)	% (n)	% (n)	% (n)
Total	49.4 (295)	50.6 (302)	43.2 (261)	56.8 (343)
Location	p < 0.001		ns
Ottawa	40.7 (132)	59.3 (192)	46.2 (151)	53.8 (176)
Peel	59.7 (163)	40.3 (110)	39.7 (110)	60.3 (167)
Household income	p < 0.01		p < 0.001
≥$120,000	40.6 (71)	59.4 (104)	59.1 (104)	40.9 (72)
$80,000–119,999	51.3 (96)	48.7 (91)	42.8 (80)	57.2 (107)
$40,000–79,999	48.5 (50)	51.5 (53)	40.0 (42)	60.0 (63)
< $40,000	63.5 (47)	36.5 (27)	20.3 (15)	79.7 (59)
Education	ns		p < 0.01
Graduate degree	52.0 (89)	48.0 (82)	49.4 (86)	50.6 (88)
Bachelor’s degree	45.1 (97)	54.9 (118)	48.1 (104)	51.9 (112)
College	54.2 (71)	45.8 (60)	33.1 (44)	66.9 (89)
High school or less	47.5 (38)	52.5 (42)	33.3 (27)	66.7 (54)
Immigrant	p < 0.001		p < 0.001
No	43.5 (160)	56.5 (208)	49.9 (184)	50.1 (185)
Yes	59.0 (135)	41.0 (94)	32.8 (77)	67.2 (158)
Visible minority	ns		p < 0.05
No	47.1 (202)	52.9 (227)	46.4 (201)	53.6 (232)
Yes	54.1 (85)	45.9 (72)	35.2 (56)	64.8 (103)
First language	ns		p < 0.001
English/French	44.7 (178)	55.3 (220)	49.9 (199)	50.1 (200)
Other	58.4 (115)	41.6 (82)	30.0 (61)	70.0 (142)
Age	ns		ns
<30	49.7 (90)	50.3 (91)	39.3 (72)	60.7 (111)
30–34	45.3 (117)	54.7 (141)	43.7 (114)	56.3 (147)
35+	56.6 (86)	43.4 (66)	48.7 (75)	51.3 (79)
First child	ns		p = 0.01
No	51.9 (137)	48.1 (127)	37.4 (101)	62.6 (169)
Yes	47.4 (158)	52.6 (175)	47.9 (160)	52.1 (174)
Perceived control	p < 0.05		ns
High	40.4 (44)	59.6 (65)	46.4 (51)	53.6 (59)
Somewhat high	42.9 (48)	57.1 (64)	42.9 (48)	57.1 (64)
Somewhat low	52.3 (80)	47.7 (73)	45.8 (71)	54.2 (84)
Low	56.6 (112)	43.4 (86)	41.5 (83)	58.5 (117)
Reported awareness	ns		p < 0.05
Very aware	52.9 (81)	47.1 (72)	54.5 (84)	45.5 (70)
Somewhat aware	46.2 (97)	53.8 (113)	40.6 (88)	59.4 (129)
Somewhat unaware	51.0 (75)	49.0 (72)	42.9 (63)	57.1 (84)
Unaware	42.2 (19)	57.8 (26)	33.3 (15)	66.7 (30)
Protective action	ns		–	–
High/moderate	52.9 (137)	47.1 (122)
Low/none	46.6 (157)	53.4 (180)

Table 4. Logistic regression models for mothers’ moderate or high levels of general environmental health concern and protective action.

	General concern		Protective action
	OR	CI	OR	CI
Location
Ottawa	1.00		1.00
Peel	2.18***	1.42–3.33	1.12	0.71–1.76
Household income
≥$120,000	1.00		1.00
$80–119,999	1.66*	1.03–2.68	0.49**	0.30–0.80
$40–79,999	1.31	0.72–2.35	0.51*	0.28–0.93
<$40,000	2.99**	1.40–6.38	0.18***	0.08–0.42
Education
Graduate degree	1.00		1.00
Bachelor’s degree	0.81	0.51–1.29	1.14	0.71–1.82
College	1.05	0.58–1.90	0.60	0.33–1.11
High school or less	0.89	0.44–1.81	0.99	0.47–2.10
Immigrant
No	1.00		1.00
Yes	1.45	0.92–2.27	0.84	0.47–1.51
First language
English/French	–	–	1.00
Other			0.48*	0.27–0.88
Age
<30	1.00		1.00
30–34	0.96	0.59–1.56	1.03	0.62–1.73
35+	1.55	0.90–2.67	1.25	0.69–2.27
First child
No	–	–	1.00
Yes			1.76**	1.14–2.71
Perceived control^a
High	1.00		1.00
Somewhat high	0.96	0.52–1.78	1.00	0.53–1.87
Somewhat low	1.55	0.86–2.77	0.91	0.50–1.65
Low	2.03*	1.14–3.61	0.87	0.48–1.55
Reported awareness^b
Unaware	1.00		1.00
Somewhat unaware	1.43	0.66–3.11	1.25	0.55–2.83
Somewhat aware	1.23	0.57–2.65	1.67	0.75–3.75
Very aware	1.46	0.65–3.28	2.54*	1.10–5.86
Protective action
None/low	1.00		–	–
Moderate/high	1.93**	1.33–3.08
General concern
None/slight	–	–	1.00
Moderate/high			2.07***	1.36–3.15
Pseudo R^2	0.159		0.202
−2 Log likelihood	609.461		588.356
Number of cases	484		484

* p < 0.05

** p < 0.01

*** p < 0.001.

^a Index based on questions related to personal control, relative importance of personal actions, and belief that specific actions that can be taken.

^b Index based on questions asking about change in level of awareness since having children, information received about environmental health hazards and specific hazards they had heard/read about.