Department of Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, University of London, UK.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2010 Feb;51(2):152-61. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02156.x. Epub 2009 Oct 5.
To model and compare contextual (area and family) effects on the psychopathology of children nested in families nested in areas.
Data from the first two sweeps of the UK's Millennium Cohort Study were used. The final study sample was 9,630 children clustered in 6,052 families clustered in 1,681 Lower-layer Super Output Areas. The mean age of the children at Sweep 2 was 4.96 (SD = 2.76) years. Contextual risk was measured at area level with the Index of Multiple Deprivation (Sweep 1), and at family level with the number of proximal (Sweep 2) and distal (Sweep 1) adverse life events experienced. Psychopathology was measured at Sweep 2 with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.
At baseline, both proximal and distal family risk and area risk predicted broad psychopathology, although the most parsimonious was the proximal family risk model, and both the family-level and the area-level variability were significant. The area risk/broad psychopathology association remained significant even when family risk was controlled, but not when family socioeconomic status was controlled. The full model added parenting and paternal and maternal psychopathology. When parental qualifications were excluded from the family-level contextual controls the effect of area risk remained significant on both externalizing and internalizing psychopathology.
The effect of area on child psychopathology operated via the socioeconomic characteristics of the child's family, not just the adverse characteristics of the neighbors. Multiple family risk predicted child psychopathology directly and independently, and not because it was associated with family socioeconomic status. Family socioeconomic status explained the association between area risk and broad psychopathology.
对嵌套于家庭中的儿童的精神病理学进行建模和比较，并探讨嵌套于地区中的情境（区域和家庭）效应对其的影响。
使用英国千禧年队列研究的前两个阶段的数据。最终的研究样本包括 9630 名儿童，这些儿童聚类于 6052 个家庭，这些家庭聚类于 1681 个下层超级输出区。儿童在第二阶段的平均年龄为 4.96 岁（标准差=2.76 岁）。区域层面的情境风险用多维贫困指数（第一阶段）来衡量，家庭层面的风险用经历的近端（第二阶段）和远端（第一阶段）不良生活事件的数量来衡量。精神病理学在第二阶段用长处与困难问卷进行测量。
在基线时，近端和远端家庭风险以及区域风险均能预测广泛的精神病理学，尽管最简约的模型是近端家庭风险模型，而且家庭层面和区域层面的变异性都很显著。即使控制了家庭风险，区域风险与广泛精神病理学的关联仍然显著，但控制了家庭社会经济地位后则不然。完全模型增加了育儿和父母的精神病理学。当将父母的学历从家庭层面的情境控制中排除时，区域风险对外部化和内化精神病理学仍有显著影响。
区域对儿童精神病理学的影响是通过儿童家庭的社会经济特征起作用的，而不仅仅是邻居的不利特征。多个家庭风险直接且独立地预测儿童精神病理学，而不是因为它与家庭社会经济地位有关。家庭社会经济地位解释了区域风险与广泛精神病理学之间的关联。
