Adolescence (青春期) is a stressful time. From friends to families, from home to school, stressful situations become common. Now, a new study shows an unexpected factor (因素) might cause teens to respond strongly to stress.
Jonas Miller, a psychologist at Stanford University, wanted to know whether air pollution might affect teens’ response to stress. his team recruited (招募) 144 tweens and teens for the study, most of whom lived in or near San Francisco, which ranks among the ten U.S. cities having the worst air quality. The researchers used data on air pollution collected by the city to see how polluted the air was near each recruit’s home. They then collected physical. and social information about the students and invited them to participate in a stressfuf.test.
Before the test, the researchers used sensors to record participants’ heart rate and sweat levels for five minutes-as they rested. Then the test began. A researcher read aloud the beginning of a story and told each participant to make up an exciting ending, which they would have to memorize and present aloud to a judge. After finishing this task, the judge had the participant do math problems. If they made a mistake, they had to start over. The whole time, sensors recorded heart rate and sweat levels.
At rest, all the students had similar heart rates and sweat levels, Miller found. But as the test got tough, kids from neighborhoods with more air pollution reacted more strongly to stress. Their heartbeats became irregular. They sweated more than teens who lived in cleaner places.
Miller looked at other possible causes of those strong reactions in the students. including their height and weight, stage of adolescence, family income and neighborhood. None of them explained the stronger stress response. Such responses are linked to negative feelings, Miller notes. Over time, these responses can “contribute to problems with both physical and mental health”.
“This is an interesting study,” says Anjum Hajat, an epidemiologist who studies the causes of disease. Miller’s study “provides unique evidence of the negative health impacts of air pollution among adolescents,” Hajat says.
8. What did Miller’s study intend to find out?
A.The factors increasing teens’ stress. |
B.The level of air pollution in San Francisco. |
C.The effect of air pollution on teens’ feelings of stress. |
D.The relationship between air pollution and teens’ physical health. |
9. What were participants asked to do in the stressful test?
A.Retell an exciting story. | B.Invent an ending to a story. |
C.Make up an amusing story. | D.Find the mistakes in a story. |
10. What did Miller take into consideration when analyzing his research results?
A.Parents’ income. | B.Parents’ education. |
C.Children’ s mental health. | D.Child-parent relationship. |
11. What is Hajat’s attitude toward Miller’s study?
A.Skeptical. | B.Conservative. | C.Uncaring. | D.Positive. |