Abstract
This study investigates mechanisms through which socioeconomic disadvantage impacts family and child functioning using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), which includes 4,898 families followed from a child’s birth through age 9 (47.6% female). Analyses explored associations between economic stress at birth and age 1 and child conduct problems at age 9 and whether associations were sequentially mediated through age 3 maternal depression and age 5 observed harsh and positive parenting. Results revealed several significant direct associations. Lower mean income at birth and age 1 was associated with higher material hardship at age 1. Hardship was associated with increased risk of maternal depression at age 3. Maternal depression was associated with higher harsh/lower positive parenting at age 5. Higher harsh/lower positive parenting were associated with higher conduct problems at age 9. While indirect effects for the full series of pathways from income to conduct problems through three sequential meditators (hardship, maternal depression, harsh/positive parenting) were not significant, several specific indirect effects were significant. The effect from income to positive parenting through hardship and depression was significant. The effects of income on conduct problems through harsh and positive parenting were significant. The effect of income on depression through hardship was significant. Results suggest that effects of socioeconomic disadvantage on conduct problems are partially mediated by compromised parenting. Further, material hardship partially explained how lower income was associated with maternal depression and less optimal parenting. Implications for future studies investigating material hardship and impacts of disadvantage are discussed.
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Author Contributions
Data are from a publicly available dataset. ECS: designed the analytic models to be tested, conducted data analyses, and wrote the manuscript.
Funding
Research reported in this publication was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers R01HD36916, R01HD39135, and R01HD40421, as well as a consortium of private foundations. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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All procedures were in accordance with ethical standards. The FFCWS was approved by the Columbia University and Princeton University Institutional Review Boards.
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Shelleby, E.C. Economic Stress in Fragile Families: Pathways to Parent and Child Maladjustment. J Child Fam Stud 27, 3877–3886 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1232-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1232-z