Poster #18 - Creciendo En Mi Barrio: Understanding the Role of Neighborhood Quality in the Well-Being of Children in Latino Families

• In Event: 3-001 - Poster Session 2 during Breakfast

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to: a) extend our current understanding of the influence of neighborhood quality on children’s positive adjustment among Latino families; b) identify the role of instrumental social support as a potential moderator of this association; and c) examine whether these associations vary by immigrant status.
A subsample of Latino families were drawn from all survey sites using data from Waves 1 (2002-04) and 2 (2005-07) of the Making Connections dataset (A Neighborhood Transformation & Family Development Initiative). Only families who reported on their 3- to 9-year-old children were included in the analyses.
A series of path models were computed to answer the proposed research questions.
Q1: Neighborhood quality (organization; safety; cohesion) at Waves 1 and 2 statistically significantly predicted positive child adjustment (health; school readiness) at Wave 2, while controlling for: child sex; child age (W2); respondent’s education level (W2); household income per capita (W2); household structure (W2).
Q2: Interaction terms (i.e. neighborhood quality W1 x instrumental social support W2; neighborhood quality W2 x instrumental social support W2) were created to predict positive child adjustment at Wave 2. This analysis controlled for the same covariates as the earlier model in addition to instrumental social support W1.
Q3: Multi-group comparison methods (Bollen, 1989) to the path model above were computed to compare differences between U.S.-born and foreign-born families.
The findings from this study can have important implications for research, policy and practice on issues impacting the well-being of low-income Latino families and children. Specifically, this study sheds further light on the importance of considering neighborhood characteristics when studying Latino families and children. This study also points to social support as one key approach for practitioners to target when working to strengthen Latino children’s positive adjustment in the face of neighborhood risks, and their role in helping Latino immigrant families build and/or maintain familial and social ties in their neighborhoods. This study also shed further light on the importance of accounting for the role of immigrant status when studying neighborhood-level and family-level processes among Latino children and families. Thus, this study has the potential for informing policy makers and community leaders of the importance of working to improve the quality of neighborhoods in low-income urban neighborhoods in an effort to bolster the well-being of children in Latino families.

Author

• Henry Gonzalez, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author