Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Long-term Neighborhood Effects on Adolescent Outcomes: Mediated through Adverse Childhood Experiences and Parenting Stress

  • Empirical Research
  • Published:
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Past research suggests that neighborhood structural and social environments are important contextual factors associated with children’s development; however, investigations of the long-term effects of neighborhood environments in early childhood on subsequent adolescents’ social and behavioral outcomes remain limited. Further, it is unclear whether and how the home environment as a mediating mechanism links neighborhood conditions and adolescents’ outcomes. Using national surveys from multi-stressed families and census datasets, the present study aims to examine the longitudinal associations between neighborhood concentrated poverty and collective efficacy, mothers’ parenting stress, exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and later adolescent outcomes. Participants included 4898 children (52% boys) and their mothers (48% black, 25 years of age, on average, 64% living in poverty); children born in unmarried families (75% unmarried) were oversampled. The results suggest that neighborhood collective efficacy is associated directly and indirectly (via parenting stress and ACEs) with adolescents’ behavior problems and social skills, and indirectly with their delinquency. Neighborhood concentrated poverty was indirectly related to adolescents’ behavior problems, delinquency, and social skills transmitted through collective efficacy and family processes. Both mothers’ parenting stress and exposure to ACEs were identified as significant mediators. This study highlights the importance of early intervention for high-risk children, programs to build community resilience and reinforce social support for vulnerable families, and policy efforts to create safe and nurturing relationships and environments.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. (2001). Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms & profiles: an integrated system of multi-informant assessment. Burlington, VT: Aseba.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Council on Community Pediatrics. (2016). Poverty and child health in the United States. Pediatrics, 137(4), 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Avellar, S., Covington, R., Moore, Q., Patnaik, A., & Wu, A. (2018). Parents and children together: Effects of four responsible fatherhood programs for low-income fathers. Washington, DC: OPRE, ACF. OPRE Report No. 2018-50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bagner, D. M., Sheinkopf, S. J., Miller-Loncar, C., LaGasse, L. L., Lester, B. M., Liu, J., Bauer, C. R., Shankaran, S., Bada, H., & Das, A. (2009). The effect of parenting stress on child behavior problems in high-risk children with prenatal drug exposure. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 40(1), 73–84.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Belsky, J., Steinberg, L., & Draper, P. (1991). Childhood experience, interpersonal development, and reproductive strategy: an evolutionary theory of socialization. Child Development, 62(4), 647–670.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beyer, K., Wallis, A. B., & Hamberger, L. K. (2015). Neighborhood environment and intimate partner violence: a systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 16(1), 16–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blodgett, C., & Lanigan, J. D. (2018). The association between adverse childhood experience (ACE) and school success in elementary school children. School Psychology Quarterly, 33(1), 137–146.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner, U. (1977). Toward an experimental ecology of human development. American Psychologist, 32(7), 513.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, C. (2017). ACE, place, race, and poverty: building hope for children. Academic Pediatrics, 17(7), S123–S129.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carapito, E., Ribeiro, M. T., Pereira, A. I., & Roberto, M. S. (2018). Parenting stress and preschoolers’ socio-emotional adjustment: the mediating role of parenting styles in parent–child dyads. Journal of Family Studies, https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2018.1442737.

  • Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2019). Essentials for childhood: Creating safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for all children. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/essentials-for-childhood-framework508.pdf.

  • Cherry, K. E., Gerstein, E. D., & Ciciolla, L. (2019). Parenting stress and children’s behavior: Transactional models during early head start. Journal of Family Psychology, 33(8), 916–926.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Choi, J. K., Kelley, M. S., & Wang, D. (2018). Neighborhood characteristics, maternal parenting, and health and development of children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62(3-4), 476–491.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Choi, J.-K., Wang, D., & Jackson, A. P. (2019). Adverse experiences in early childhood and their longitudinal impact on later behavioral problems of children living in poverty. Child Abuse & Neglect, 98, 104181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conger, K. J., Rueter, M. A., & Conger, R. D. (2000). The role of economic pressure in the lives of parents and their adolescents: the family stress model. In L. J. Crockett & R. K. Silbereisen (Eds.), Negotiating adolescence in times of social change (pp. 201–223). Cambridge University Press.

  • Crouch, E., Radcliff, E., Brown, M., & Hung, P. (2019). Exploring the association between parenting stress and a child’s exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Children and Youth Services Review, 102, 186–192.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Dawson, C. T., Wu, W., Fennie, K. P., Ibañez, G., Cano, M. Á., Pettit, J. W., & Trepka, M. J. (2019). Parental‐perceived neighborhood characteristics and adolescent depressive symptoms: A multilevel moderation analysis. Journal of Community Psychology, 47(7), 1568–1590.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, W. R., & Dietz, W. H. (2017). A new framework for addressing adverse childhood and community experiences: The building community resilience model. Academic Pediatrics, 17(7), S86–S93.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Felitti, V. J., & Anda, R. F. (2010). The relationship of adverse childhood experiences to adult medical disease, psychiatric disorders, and sexual behavior: Implications for healthcare. The impact of early life trauma on health and disease: the hidden epidemic (pp. 77–87). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

  • Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., & Marks, J. S. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245–258.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Giovanelli, A., Reynolds, A. J., Mondi, C. F., & Ou, S.-R. (2016). Adverse childhood experiences and adult well-being in a low-income, urban cohort. Pediatrics, 137(4), e20154016.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez, A., & MacMillan, H. L. (2008). Preventing child maltreatment: an evidence-based update. Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, 54(4), 280–286.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gresham, F. M., & Elliott, S. N. (1990). Social skills rating system: Manual. American Guidance Service.

  • Guterman, N. B., Lee, S. J., Taylor, C. A., & Rathouz, P. J. (2009). Parental perceptions of neighborhood processes, stress, personal control, and risk for physical child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse & Neglect, 33(12), 897–906.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, K. M. & Udry, J. R. (1994–2008). Codebooks: Wave I in-home interview data. National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. https://addhealth.cpc.unc.edu/documentation/codebooks/.

  • Hofferth, S., Davis-Kean, P. E., Davis, J., & Finkelstein, J. (1999). 1997 user guide: the child development supplement to the panel study of income dynamics. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogan, A. E., Scott, K. G., & Bauer, C. R. (1992). The Adaptive Social Behavior Inventory (ASBI): A new assessment of social competence in high-riskthree-year-olds. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 10(3), 230–239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, K., Bellis, M. A., Hardcastle, K. A., Sethi, D., Butchart, A., Mikton, C., Jones, L., & Dunne, M. P. (2017). The effect of multiple adverse childhood experiences on health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Public Health, 2(8), e356–e366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iachini, A. L., Petiwala, A. F., & DeHart, D. D. (2016). Examining adverse childhood experiences among students repeating the ninth grade: Implications for school dropout prevention. Children & Schools, 38(4), 218–227.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iruka, I. U., De Marco, A., Garrett-Peters, P., & Family Life Project Key Investigators. (2018). Profiles of academic/socioemotional competence: Associations with parenting, home, child care, and neighborhood. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 54, 1–11.

  • Jeon, H. S., & Chun, J. (2017). The influence of stress on juvenile delinquency: focusing on the buffering effects of protective factors among Korean adolescents. Social Work in Public Health, 32(4), 223–237.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jocson, R. M., & McLoyd, V. C. (2015). Neighborhood and housing disorder, parenting, and youth adjustment in low-income urban families. American Journal of Community Psychology, 55(3-4), 304–313.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, J., & Cicchetti, D. (2004). A longitudinal study of child maltreatment, mother–child relationship quality and maladjustment: The role of self-esteem and social competence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32(4), 341–354.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, Y., Lee, S., Jung, H., Jaime, J., & Cubbin, C. (2019). Is neighborhood poverty harmful to every child? Neighborhood poverty, family poverty, and behavioral problems among young children. Journal of Community Psychology, 47(3), 594–610.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

  • Kohen, D. E., Leventhal, T., Dahinten, V. S., & McIntosh, C. N. (2008). Neighborhood disadvantage: Pathways of effects for young children. Child Development, 79(1), 156–169.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lansford, J. E., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., Bates, J. E., Crozier, J., & Kaplow, J. (2002). A 12-year prospective study of the long-term effects of early child physical maltreatment on psychological, behavioral, and academic problems in adolescence. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 156(8), 824–830.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma, J., Grogan-Kaylor, A., & Lee, S. J. (2018). Associations of neighborhood disorganization and maternal spanking with children’s aggression: A fixed-effects regression analysis. Child Abuse & Neglect, 76, 106–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, G. M., & Tolan, P. H. (2019). The influence of parenting practices and neighborhood characteristics on the development of childhood aggression. Journal of Community Psychology, 47(1), 135–146.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Minh, A., Muhajarine, N., Janus, M., Brownell, M., & Guhn, M. (2017). A review of neighborhood effects and early child development: how, where, and for whom, do neighborhoods matter. Health & Place, 46, 155–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Molnar, B. E., Goerge, R. M., Gilsanz, P., Hill, A., Subramanian, S. V., Holton, J. K., Duncan, D. T., Beatriz, E. D., & Beardslee, W. R. (2016). Neighborhood-level social processes and substantiated cases of child maltreatment. Child Abuse & Neglect, 51, 41–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muthén, L. K. (2014). MPlus Version 7.4. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.

    Google Scholar 

  • Narayan, A. J., Rivera, L. M., Bernstein, R. E., Harris, W. W., & Lieberman, A. F. (2018). Positive childhood experiences predict less psychopathology and stress in pregnant women with childhood adversity: A pilot study of the benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) scale. Child Abuse & Neglect, 78, 19–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petruccelli, K., Davis, J., & Berman, T. (2019). Adverse childhood experiences and associated health outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Child Abuse & Neglect, 97, 104127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reichman, N. E., Teitler, J. O., Garfinkel, I., & McLanahan, S. S. (2001). Fragile families: sample and design. Children and Youth Services Review, 23(4–5), 303–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, S. L., Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., & Hood, M. (2016). From the child to the neighborhood: longitudinal ecological correlates of young adolescents’ emotional, social, conduct, and academic difficulties. Journal of Adolescence, 49, 218–231.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ruberry, E. J., Klein, M. R., Kiff, C. J., Thompson, S. F., & Lengua, L. J. (2018). Parenting as a moderator of the effects of cumulative risk on children’s social-emotional adjustment and academic readiness. Infant and Child Development, 27(3), e2071.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J., Raudenbush, S. W., & Earls, F. (1997). Neighborhoods and violent crime: a multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science, 277(5328), 918–924.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sandel, M., Faugno, E., Mingo, A., Cannon, J., Byrd, K., Garcia, D. A., & Jarrett, R. B. (2016). Neighborhood-level interventions to improve childhood opportunity and lift children out of poverty. Academic Pediatrics, 16(3), S128–S135.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sanders, M. R., Burke, K., Prinz, R. J., & Morawska, A. (2017). Achieving population-level change through a system-contextual approach to supporting competent parenting. Clinical Child & Family Psychology Review, 20(1), 36–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, C. R., & McKay, H. D. (1969). Juvenile delinquency and urban areas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silver, E., Mulvey, E. P., & Swanson, J. W. (2002). Neighborhood structural characteristics and mental disorder: Faris and Dunham revisited. Social Science & Medicine, 55(8), 1457–1470.

    Google Scholar 

  • StataCorp. (2015). Stata statistical software: release 14. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wade, R., Shea, J. A., Rubin, D., & Wood, J. (2014). Adverse childhood experiences of low-income urban youth. Pediatrics, 134(1), e13–e20.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waldfogel, J., Craigie, T. A., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2010). Fragile families and child wellbeing. The Future of Children, 20(2), 87–112.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wolff, K. T., Baglivio, M. T., Intravia, J., & Piquero, A. R. (2015). The protective impact of immigrant concentration on juvenile recidivism: a statewide analysis of youth offenders. Journal of Criminal Justice, 43(6), 522–531.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors’ Contributions

D.W. conceived of the study, participated in its design, conducted the initial statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript; J.C. participated in its design, refined the conceptual framework, supervised and conducted data analysis, and revised the manuscript; and JS drafted the manuscript and assisted with data analyses. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the Office of Research and Economic Development, University of Nebraska-Lincoln under Research Council Grant-in-Aid [grant number 15446]. The funder was not involved in the study design, data analysis, or interpretation of the data.

Data Sharing and Declaration

All data used in this study were obtained from the Center for Research on Child Wellbeing’s Fragile Families Data at Princeton University. Public-use data are free to download from Princeton University’s Office of Population Research (OPR) data archive. Restricted-use contract data including residential context files are also available to the public via a contract data agreement.F

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA

    Dan Wang, Jeong-Kyun Choi & Jiwon Shin

Authors
  1. Dan Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jeong-Kyun Choi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jiwon Shin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeong-Kyun Choi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The research procedure was reviewed and approved by the Center for Research on Child Wellbeing’s Fragile Families Data at Princeton University, as well as the Institutional Review Board at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Informed Consent

No informed consent was obtained for the secondary use of data.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, D., Choi, JK. & Shin, J. Long-term Neighborhood Effects on Adolescent Outcomes: Mediated through Adverse Childhood Experiences and Parenting Stress. J Youth Adolescence 49, 2160–2173 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01305-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01305-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation