Du Xi, Kim Youn Kyoung
School of Social Work, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USA.
J Child Fam Stud. 2021;30(12):3055-3069. doi: 10.1007/s10826-021-02129-5. Epub 2021 Oct 14.
Residential mobility and caregiver social support are two key factors influencing adolescents' and their caregivers' health status. However, few studies have examined whether these factors vary across developmental periods. The present study therefore adopted a life course perspective to investigate the longitudinal effects of residential mobility and caregiver social support on a range of individual health outcomes (i.e., caregiver depression, adolescent internalizing problems, and adolescent externalizing problems) among families exposed to disadvantaged social and economic conditions. Data were obtained from the Longitudinal Studies in Child Abuse and Neglect, and 425 children and their caregivers who completed the age 12, 14, 16, and 18 interviews were included in this study. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the measurement and structural models. The results showed that greater residential mobility was significantly associated with higher levels of caregiver depression, which in turn led to more adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Alternatively, higher levels of caregiver social support mitigated the levels of caregiver depression, which in turn resulted in fewer adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Highly mobile children and their caregivers were found to be vulnerable to several negative health outcomes and in high need of mental and behavioral health support and services. These findings inform important policy and practice implications on social support for mobile caregivers to address their children's behavioral problems.
居住流动性和照料者社会支持是影响青少年及其照料者健康状况的两个关键因素。然而，很少有研究考察这些因素在不同发育阶段是否存在差异。因此，本研究采用生命历程视角，调查居住流动性和照料者社会支持对处于不利社会经济条件家庭中一系列个体健康结果（即照料者抑郁、青少年内化问题和青少年外化问题）的纵向影响。数据来自儿童虐待与忽视纵向研究，本研究纳入了425名完成12岁、14岁、16岁和18岁访谈的儿童及其照料者。进行了结构方程模型分析以检验测量模型和结构模型。结果表明，更高的居住流动性与照料者更高的抑郁水平显著相关，而这反过来又导致更多的青少年内化和外化问题。相反，更高水平的照料者社会支持减轻了照料者的抑郁水平，进而减少了青少年的内化和外化问题。研究发现，居住流动性高的儿童及其照料者容易出现多种负面健康结果，非常需要心理和行为健康支持及服务。这些发现为针对流动照料者的社会支持以解决其子女行为问题提供了重要的政策和实践启示。
