Futurology

Not sure if this is offtopic but...

My parents grew up in China but still emotionally abusive af, did China also have leaded gasoline, or did the wind just blew all the toxicity of lead from the US all the way across the world? (None of us even stepped foot in the US until like around 2010s, I think leaded gas was already banned by then...) 🤔

Or maybe my parents are just naturally born toxic... 😓

I had trouble understanding the standard deviations in the study so had chatgpt translate them into terms I could understand.

FYI:

1. General Psychopathology Factor (g-factor):

   • The "602-million General Psychopathology factor points" refers to the cumulative impact of leaded gasoline exposure across the U.S. population on a mental health risk measure.
   • A 0.13 standard deviation increase means that, on average, the population's liability to mental illness shifted slightly higher. While it's hard to translate standard deviations into percentages directly, a 0.13 SD is considered a small effect, equivalent to about a 5.2% increase in risk when interpreted broadly.

2. 151 Million Excess Mental Disorders:

   • This means that, due to lead exposure, there were 151 million additional cases of mental disorders in the U.S. population over time. This doesn't mean 151 million people, as some individuals might have more than one disorder.

3. Internalizing Symptoms:

   • Internalizing symptoms (like anxiety and depression) showed a 0.64 standard deviation increase. This is a medium-to-large effect size and can be roughly understood as a 24% increase in these symptoms across the population.

4. AD/HD Symptoms:

   • Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder symptoms increased by 0.42 standard deviations, which is a moderate effect size. This corresponds to about a 16.5% increase in population-level AD/HD symptoms.

5. Personality Traits (Neuroticism and Conscientiousness):

   • Neuroticism (tendency to experience negative emotions) increased by 0.14 standard deviations (a small effect, about a 5.6% increase).
   • Conscientiousness (self-discipline and organization) decreased by 0.20 standard deviations, which is a slightly larger small effect, about an 8% decrease.

The time frames seem a bit odd in their study and the most affected being born as late as 1986. Mainly because most vehicles in the US in the 1970's ran on unleaded fuel already (ford didnt build a leaded vehicle past 74 or 75) and cars from the 70's were lucky to be on the road a decade later. I would have thought the most effected would have been pre 1980. The US may not have banned it until 1996, but by that point 99% of cars touching the roads were already lead free.

Is there any similar study done on hunters or people who eat meat from animals shot with lead bullets? Sometimes I wonder if lead from bullets make gun slingers and game meat eaters more retarded. I.e. MAGA folks basically.