Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA; Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2017 Nov;192:152-161. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.07.027. Epub 2017 Aug 21.
Externalizing behavior problems are common among children and adolescents, and have considerable negative impacts on their long-term health and wellbeing. Substantial evidence supports a link between neighborhood conditions and externalizing behaviors. However, the timing of neighborhood effects on the developmental course of externalizing behaviors and the role of family and peer processes in shaping neighborhood effects remains unclear.
The current study aims to examine the relationship between perceived neighborhood quality and trajectories of child externalizing behaviors in a U.S. nationally representative cohort, focusing on the timing of neighborhood effects and the role of family and peer processes in mediating these effects.
The study included 3563 children who participated in three consecutive waves of Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics in 1997, 2002 and 2007. In a latent growth curve model (LGCM), we estimated trajectories of externalizing behaviors and the effects of perceived neighborhood quality on the trajectories, using parental, family and peer processes as potential mediators.
At baseline, better neighborhood quality was moderately associated with fewer externalizing behaviors among seven-to twelve-year-olds, but was not associated with externalizing behaviors among children six years and younger. During follow-up, better neighborhood quality was associated with small decreases in externalizing behaviors, primarily mediated by lower levels of parental distress and family conflict.
This study suggests that better perceived neighborhood quality contributes to fewer externalizing behaviors throughout childhood and adolescence, and that parental distress and family conflict are the main mediators of these effects. Given the pervasiveness of exposure to adverse neighborhood conditions, efforts to reduce concentrated poverty and improve neighborhood environments may improve children and adolescents' mental health at the population level.
外化行为问题在儿童和青少年中很常见，对他们的长期健康和幸福有相当大的负面影响。大量证据表明邻里条件与外化行为之间存在关联。然而，邻里效应对外化行为发展过程的影响的时间以及家庭和同伴过程在塑造邻里效应中的作用仍不清楚。
本研究旨在检验美国全国代表性队列中感知邻里质量与儿童外化行为轨迹之间的关系，重点关注邻里效应的时间以及家庭和同伴过程在介导这些效应中的作用。
该研究纳入了 3563 名儿童，他们参加了收入动态面板研究儿童发展补充调查的三个连续波次，分别在 1997 年、2002 年和 2007 年。在潜增长曲线模型（LGCM）中，我们估计了外化行为的轨迹，以及感知邻里质量对轨迹的影响，使用父母、家庭和同伴过程作为潜在的中介变量。
在基线时，对于 7 至 12 岁的儿童，更好的邻里质量与较少的外化行为中度相关，但与 6 岁以下儿童的外化行为无关。在随访期间，更好的邻里质量与外化行为的小幅度减少相关，主要通过降低父母的痛苦和家庭冲突来介导。
这项研究表明，更好的感知邻里质量有助于减少整个儿童期和青春期的外化行为，而父母的痛苦和家庭冲突是这些效应的主要中介。鉴于接触不利邻里条件的普遍性，减少集中贫困和改善邻里环境的努力可能会在人群层面上改善儿童和青少年的心理健康。
