Associations between neighborhood characteristics and child well-being before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A repeated cross-sectional study in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program

Child well-being refers to the overall state of a child's physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development, encompassing their health, happiness, safety, and ability to thrive. Child well-being is influenced by various factors, including family support, education, access to healthcare, and neighborhood characteristics. Neighborhood characteristics refer to a range of attributes defining the physical and social environment of a residential area. In epidemiologic studies, these characteristics are often quantified using variables from the American Community Survey (ACS), (US Census Bureau, 2024a) which provides data on numerous attributes including neighborhood socioeconomic status, demographic composition, and housing condition. Review of prior studies (Diez Roux and Mair, 2010, van Vuuren et al., 2014) have found associations between various neighborhood characteristics, as measured by the ACS, and children's health and development. (author introduction) #HES4A