Skip to content
University of East London
  • Staff login
  • Student login
  • Study

    Study

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Undergraduate study

    View all of our undergraduate subjects.

    Explore now
    • COURSES
      • Undergraduate
      • Postgraduate
      • Getting back into education
      • Subjects
      • May starts
      • Apprenticeships
    • STUDENT INFORMATION
      • Student life
      • Current students
      • New students
      • Accommodation
      • Term dates
      • Fees and funding
      • Scholarships
    • VISIT UEL
      • Open days and events
      • Our location
  • International

    International

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Virtual Open Events

    Need support during your admission journey?

    Attend our virtual events
    • APPLYING
      • Advice for your region
      • Pre-degree courses
      • Immigration advice and compliance
      • Transferring to UEL
      • International admission deadlines
      • Pre-sessional English
      • Malvern House pathway programmes
    • STUDENT INFORMATION
      • Accommodation
      • Term dates
      • Fees and funding
      • Scholarships
    • VISIT UEL
      • Open days and events
      • Our location
      • Virtual open events
  • Your career

    Your career

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Are you an employer?

    Advertise a vacancy on our platform today.

    Get started
    • STARTING YOUR CAREER
      • Career Zone
      • Explore your career
      • Career coaching and mentoring
    • GETTING A JOB
      • Meet employers
      • Be your own boss
      • Volunteering
      • Work while you study
  • Partners

    Partners

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Are you an employer?

    Advertise a vacancy on our platform today.

    Get started
    • Partnerships at UEL
    • Train your workforce
    • Share your skills
    • Connect with our people
  • Our research

    Our research

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    REF 2021

    Read about our Research Excellence Framework submissions and results

    Impact case studies
    • Postgraduate research students
    • Research impact
    • Partnerships
    • REF 2021
  • About

    About

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Connected campus

    We are improving our three campuses for people to study, work and live.

    What we're doing
    • OUR UNIVERSITY
      • Our schools and subjects
      • Staff
      • Governance
      • Professional services
      • Vision 2028
      • Alumni
      • Accreditations
      • Sustainable Development Goals
    • TEACHING AND SUPPORT
      • How we teach
      • Mental wealth
      • On-campus nursery
    • GET INVOLVED
      • Events
      • News
    • GET IN TOUCH
      • Our location
      • Contact us
  • Home
  • About UEL

City babies more stressed, new UEL research shows

Hero Carousel

babydevlab story - Psychology

Rural counterparts are more relaxed according to BabyDevLab

See all of our news articles

Published

02 November 2021

Share

Share On Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn

City-dwelling babies show increased physiological stress compared with rural babies, but they also engage and learn new faces quicker, new research shows.

The study, led by Professor Sam Wass of the BabyDevLab at the University of East London, also shows that urban babies show worse sustained attention and worse emotional regulation. No previous research has examined how high-density urban environments affect early infant development.

Understanding these developmental pathways is also important because individuals are considered most sensitive to their living environment during early life - so it is possible that urban living affects development more strongly during infancy than at other times.

The study, Physiological Stress, Sustained Attention, Emotion Regulation, and Cognitive Engagement in 12-Month-Old Infants From Urban Environments, was recently published by the American Psychological Association.

The research was carried out in a range of homes from diverse backgrounds across South-East England, with infants living in both high and low density housing areas. The infants also attended a lab for further testing. 

We know that adults who live in cities tend to report higher stress and anxiety than non-city dwellers - but we don’t know why this is, and we don’t how early these effects emerge. Our study suggests that city life may be affecting children much more than we've realised - which is crucial because it’s during early life that we are at our most vulnerable.

"Importantly, though, the study also showed that the effects of city life on early development aren't all bad. 'City babies' showed worse sustained attention and worse emotion regulation - but they also showed better engagement and learnt new faces more quickly. This is important because it helps us think about how we should be tailoring education and learning to get the best out of high-stress city kids,"

Professor Sam Wass, director of BabyDevLab at UEL and lead author of study, said.

The UEL BabyDevLab hosts a range of projects that use new techniques, including dual parent-child EEG, miniaturised microphones, cameras and stress monitors that can be worn by babies and parents in the home, and computerised concentration training exercises for infants.

The children in its catchment area come from some of the most socioeconomically and demographically diverse areas in the UK, and a major focus of their research is looking at how children's different early life experiences affect their concentration, learning, and emotion regulation.

Share

Share On Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn

Communications team

Contact us for press and interview requests

 

+44 (0)20 8223 2911
pressoffice@uel.ac.uk

Help us make this site better by telling us what you think about this page

Social Media

Follow us on social media:

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube Instagram TikTok

University of East London

University Way

London, E16 2RD

United Kingdom



T. +44 20 8223 3000


Explore UEL

  • About UEL
  • Take a virtual tour
  • Calendars
  • Freedom of information
  • Governance management
  • Services and departments
  • Find us
  • Contact us

The University

  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • News
  • Events
  • Jobs

University of East London

University Way

London, E16 2RD

United Kingdom



T. +44 20 8223 3000


Copyright ©2023 University of East London

  • Accessibility
  • Data protection
  • Sitemap
  • AccessAble
  • Modern slavery
  • Legal and compliance
  • Cookie settings
  • Privacy