Abstract
Using two waves of data, this study examined relations among neighborhood and housing disorder, parents’ psychological distress, parenting behaviors, and subsequent youth adjustment in a low-income, multiethnic sample of families with children aged 6–16. Results supported the hypothesized indirect relation between disorder and youth outcomes via parenting processes. Higher levels of neighborhood and housing disorder were associated with higher levels of parents’ psychological distress, which was in turn related to more frequent use of harsh and inconsistent discipline strategies and lower parental warmth. More frequent use of harsh and inconsistent discipline was associated with higher levels of youth internalizing and externalizing behaviors 3 years later. Housing disorder contributed more strongly to parents’ psychological distress than neighborhood disorder, whereas neighborhood disorder contributed more strongly to youth externalizing behaviors compared to housing disorder. Multiple-group analyses showed that the patterns of relations were similar for younger and older children, and for girls and boys.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bentler, P. M. (2001). EQS 6 structural equations program manual. Encino, CA: Multivariate Software.
Brooks-Gunn, J., Johnson, A. D., & Leventhal, T. (2010). Disorder, turbulence, and resources in children’s homes and neighborhoods. In G. W. Evans & T. D. Wachs (Eds.), Chaos and its influence on children’s development: An ecological perspective (pp. 155–170). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Caldwell, B. M., & Bradley, R. H. (1984). Home observation for the measurement of the environment (Rev ed.). Little Rock: University of Arkansas.
Caughy, M. O., Franzini, L., Windle, M., Dittus, P., Cuccaro, P., Elliott, M. N., & Schuster, M. A. (2012). Social competence in late elementary school: Relationships to parenting and neighborhood context. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41, 1613–1627.
Caughy, M. O., Nettles, S. M., & O’Campo, P. J. (2007). Community influences on adjustment in first grade: An examination of an integrated process model. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 16, 819–836.
Chung, H. L., & Steinberg, L. (2006). Relations between neighborhood factors, parenting behaviors, peer deviance, and delinquency among serious juvenile offenders. Developmental Psychology, 42, 319–331.
Coldwell, J., Pike, A., & Dunn, J. (2006). Household chaos—Links with parenting and child behavior. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 1116–1122.
Coley, R. L., Leventhal, T., Lynch, A. D., & Kull, M. (2013). Relations between housing characteristics and the well-being of low-income children and adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 49, 1775–1789.
Conger, R. D., Conger, K. J., & Martin, M. J. (2010). Socioeconomic status, family processes, and individual development. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 72, 685–704.
Crick, N. R., & Zahn-Waxler, C. (2003). The development of psychopathology in females and males: Current progress and future challenges. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 719–742.
Dahl, T., Ceballo, R., & Huerta, M. (2010). In the eye of the beholder: Mothers’ perceptions of poor neighborhoods as places to raise children. Journal of Community Psychology, 38, 419–434.
Evans, G. W. (2004). The environment of childhood poverty. American Psychologist, 59, 77–92.
Evans, G. W., Gonnella, C., Marcynyszyn, L. A., Gentile, L., & Salpekar, N. (2005). The role of chaos in poverty and children’s socioemotional adjustment. Psychological Science, 16, 560–565.
Gagne, L. G., & Ferrer, A. (2006). Housing, neighborhoods, and development outcomes of children in Canada. Canadian Public Policy, 32, 275–300.
Gifford, R., & Lacombe, C. (2006). Housing quality and children’s socioemotional health. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 21, 177–189.
Gresham, F. M., & Elliot, S. N. (1990). Social skills rating system manual. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Hardaway, C. R., McLoyd, V. C., & Wood, D. (2012). Exposure to violence and socioemotional adjustment in low-income youth: An examination of protective factors. American Journal of Community Psychology, 49, 112–126.
Hurd, N. M., Stoddard, S. A., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2012). Neighborhoods, social support, and African American adolescents’ mental health outcomes: A multilevel path analysis. Child Development, 84, 858–874.
Huston, A. C., Duncan, G. J., Granger, R., Bos, J., McLoyd, V. C., Mistry, R., & Ventura, A. (2001). Work-based antipoverty programs for parents can enhance the school performance and social behavior of children. Child Development, 72, 318–336.
Iruka, I. U., LaForett, D. R., & Odom, E. C. (2012). Examining the validity of the family investment and stress models and relationship to children’s school readiness across five cultural groups. Journal of Family Psychology, 26, 359–370.
Jamshidian, M., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). ML estimation of mean and covariance structures with missing data using complete data routines. Journal of Education and Behavioral Statistics, 24, 21–41.
Karriker-Jaffe, K. J., Foshee, V. A., Ennett, S. T., & Suchindran, C. (2009). Sex differences in the effects of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and social organization on rural adolescents’ aggression trajectories. American Journal of Community Psychology, 43, 189–203.
Kim, J. E., Hetherington, E. M., & Reiss, D. (1999). Associations among family relationships, antisocial peers, and adolescents’ externalizing behaviors: Gender and family type differences. Child Development, 70, 1209–1230.
Krieger, J., & Higgins, D. L. (2002). Housing and health: Time again for public health action. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 758–768.
Kroneman, L., Loeber, R., & Hipwell, A. E. (2004). Is neighborhood context differently related to externalizing problems and delinquency for girls compared with boys? Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 7, 109–112.
Leventhal, T., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2000). The neighborhoods they live in: The effects of neighborhood residence on child and adolescent outcomes. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 309–337.
Leventhal, T., & Newman, S. (2010). Housing and child development. Child and Youth Services Review, 32, 1165–1174.
May, D. C., Rader, N. E., & Goodrum, S. (2010). A gendered assessment of the “threat of victimization”: Examining gender differences in fear of crime, perceived risk, avoidance, and defensive behaviors. Criminal Justice Review, 35, 159–182.
McLoyd, V. C., Mistry, R. S., & Hardaway, C. R. (2013). Poverty and children’s development: Familial processes as mediating influences. In E. Gershoff, R. Mistry, & D. Crosby (Eds.), Societal contexts of child development: Pathways of influence and implications for practice and policy (pp. 109–124). New York: Oxford University Press.
Morris, P., & Michalopoulos, C. (2000). The Self-Sufficiency Project at 36 months: Effects on children of a program that increased employment and income. New York: Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation.
Mrug, S., & Windle, M. (2009). Mediators of neighborhood influences on externalizing behavior in preadolescent children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 265–280.
Murry, V. M., Berkel, C., Gaylord-Harden, N. K., Copeland-Linder, N., & Nation, M. (2011). Neighborhood poverty and adolescent development. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21, 114–128.
National Low Income Housing Coalition. (2013). America’s affordable housing shortage, and how to end it. Housing Spotlight, 3, 1–6.
Newman, S. J. (2008). Does housing matter for poor families? A critical summary of research and issues still to be resolved. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 27, 895–925.
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401.
Reynolds, C. R., & Richmond, B. O. (1985). Revised children’s manifest anxiety scale: Manual. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.
Roosa, M. W., Jones, S., Tein, J. Y., & Cree, W. (2003). Prevention science and neighborhood influences on low-income children’s development: Theoretical and methodological issues. American Journal of Community Psychology, 31, 55–72.
Ross, C. E., & Mirowsky, J. (2009). Neighborhood disorder, subjective alienation, and distress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 50, 49–64.
Snyder, C. R., Sympson, S. C., Ybasco, F. C., Borders, T. F., Babyak, M. A., & Higgins, R. L. (1996). Development and validation of the State Hope scale. Journal of Personality and Social Development, 70, 321–335.
Sobel, M. E. (1982). Asymptotic confidence intervals for indirect effects in structural equation models. Sociological Methodology, 13, 290–312.
Vandivere, S., Hair, E. C., Theokas, C., Cleveland, K., McNamara, M., & Atienza, A. (2006). How housing affects child well-being. Coral Gables, FL: Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities.
Weisner, T. S., Bernheimer, L., Espinosa, V., Gibson, C., Howard, E., & Magnuson, K. (1999). From the living rooms and daily routines of the economically poor: An ethnographic study of the New Hope effects on families and children. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Albuquerque, NM.
Wells, N. M., & Harris, J. D. (2007). Housing quality, psychological distress, and the mediating role of social withdrawal: A longitudinal study of low-income women. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 27, 69–78.
Yuan, K. H., & Bentler, P. M. (2000). Three likelihood-based methods for mean and covariance structure analysis with nonnormal missing data. Sociological Methodology, 30, 165–200.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jocson, R.M., McLoyd, V.C. Neighborhood and Housing Disorder, Parenting, and Youth Adjustment in Low-Income Urban Families. Am J Community Psychol 55, 304–313 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-015-9710-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-015-9710-6