Moisture damage can influence the subjective assessment of indoor air quality (subjective IAQ) in various ways. We studied whether the frequency of symptoms reported across students at school level mediates the relationship between observed mold and dampness in a school building and students’ subjective IAQ. To answer this research question, we tested a multilevel path model. The analyzed data were created by merging two nationwide data sets: (a) survey data from students, including information on subjective IAQ (N = 24,786 students); (b) data from schools, including information on mold and dampness in a school building (N = 222). After the background variables were adjusted, schools’ observed mold and dampness were directly and significantly related to poor subjective IAQ (standardized beta (β)= 0.22, P = .002). In addition, in schools with mold and dampness, students reported significantly more symptoms (β = 0.22, P = .023) than in schools without; the higher the prevalence of symptoms at school level, the worse the students’ subjective IAQ (β = 0.60, P < .001). This indirect path was significant (P = .023). In total, schools’ observed mold and dampness and student‐reported symptoms explained 52% of the between‐school variance in subjective IAQ.

中文翻译：

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学生的学校水平症状介导了学校观察到的潮湿问题与学生对室内空气质量的主观看法之间的关系。

湿气损害可以通过多种方式影响对室内空气质量（主观 IAQ）的主观评估。我们研究了在学校水平的学生报告的症状频率是否介导了在学校建筑中观察到的霉菌和潮湿与学生主观 IAQ 之间的关系。为了回答这个研究问题，我们测试了一个多级路径模型。分析数据是通过合并两个全国性数据集创建的：(a) 来自学生的调查数据，包括主观 IAQ 信息（N = 24,786 名学生）；(b) 来自学校的数据，包括关于学校建筑中霉菌和潮湿的信息（N = 222）。调整背景变量后，学校观察到的霉菌和潮湿与主观室内空气质量差直接显着相关（标准化β（β）= 0.22，P = .002）。此外，在有霉菌和潮湿的学校，学生报告的症状明显多于没有霉菌和潮湿的学校（β = 0.22，P  = .023）；学校水平的症状发生率越高，学生的主观室内空气质量越差（β = 0.60，P  < .001）。这种间接路径很重要（P  = .023）。总的来说，学校观察到的霉菌和潮湿以及学生报告的症状解释了主观 IAQ 校际差异的 52%。