Changes in Mothers’ Perceptions of Neighborhood Quality, Child Well-being, and Parenting Stress, 1976 – 2002

• In Event: 343 - Regular Session. Parenthood 2

Abstract

Qualitative research and popular culture emphasize that changing ideologies regarding children and parenting have resulted in increased concerns about the safety of children in the neighborhood, a perceived decline in the well-being of children, and an overall increase in parenting stress among mothers with college degrees over the past several decades. Quantitative examination of this claim is limited, however. Analyses using two national data of children aged 8 to 12 (N = 2,397) suggest that on average mothers in 2002 perceived better neighborhood quality and child health than their counterparts in 1976 because of sociodemographic changes that indicate more resources such as higher levels of education and being older. After controlling for sociodemographic factors, mothers in 2002, especially college-educated mothers, report poorer neighborhood quality, poorer child health, and more child behavioral problems than their counterparts in 1976. Yet, it is mothers without college degrees, not college-educated mothers, who reported feeling more exhausted from raising children in 2002 than in 1976. These findings call for more attention to structural changes and increased burdens of parenting among less privileged mothers over the past decades.

Authors

• Kei Nomaguchi, Bowling Green State University

• Amanda N. House, Bowling Green State University

• Marshal Neal Fettro, Bowling Green State University