Poster #62 - The Impact of Neighborhood Safety and Parenting on Adjustment in Early and Late Childhood

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Developmental Psychopathology

Integrative Statement

Neighborhood disadvantage and parenting practices have been associated with various child adjustment outcomes, including internalizing and externalizing symptoms (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000; Galambos, Barker, & Almeida, 2003). The literature presents a complex picture of how neighborhood factors and parenting practices together relate to child adjustment; some evidence suggests that parenting may mediate the relation between neighborhood safety problems (NSP) and child adjustment (Pachter, Auinger, Palmer, & Weitzman, 2006). Though there is evidence that the impact of NSP on child adjustment may differ by age (e.g., Kleinepier & van Hamm, 2018), little research has tested this empirically. The present study will examine how NSP and maternal parenting practices impact the development of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in two age groups of preschool-age and preadolescent youth.
To compare the relations by age, we conducted analyses on two samples: the preschool-age sample included 306 children (45% boys, M = 5.00 years, SD =.04), and the preadolescent sample included 214 children (42% boys, M=9.51 years, SD = 1.01). Maternal report on the Neighborhood Questionnaire (NQ; Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 1991) measured neighborhood safety for both samples. Independent coders rated parenting behaviors via video recorded parent-child interactions. Parenting behaviors of interest include negativity, positive affect, interactiveness, responsiveness, limit setting, respect for autonomy, and guidance and structuring. Mothers reported on child internalizing and externalizing symptoms using the broadband internalizing and externalizing scales from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991). Demographic variables of child age and sex, maternal depression, and family income measured by maternal report were included as covariates. In preliminary analyses, we used bivariate correlations and multiple linear regression to examine relations between variables. In final analyses for the poster presentation, we will conduct cross-age comparisons using path analyses in Mplus.
In preliminary analyses, NSP were positively correlated with externalizing symptoms in both the preschool-age (r = .145 p < .05), and preadolescent (r = .248, p < .001) samples; NSP were correlated with internalizing symptoms only in the preschool-age sample (r = .139, p < .05). NSP were differentially correlated with parental control and affective behaviors in each sample (see Table 1). Multiple linear regressions examined parenting and NSP as predictors of child adjustment. In the preschool-age sample, NSP were not a significant predictor of externalizing symptoms, and only guidance and structuring predicted externalizing symptoms (β = .120, p < .05) above the effects of covariates. For the preadolescent sample, NSP predicted externalizing symptoms (βs = .153-.187, ps < .05), whereas none of the parenting variables significantly predicted externalizing above the effects of NSP and covariates. For both samples, neither NSP nor parenting predicted internalizing symptoms. We plan to formally test for differences in coefficients using cross-group path analyses
These findings suggest that child age and association of NSP with parenting behaviors—particularly control and warmth, may account for the impact of NSP on child adjustment. Importantly, parenting practices may be a target for intervention in the context of neighborhood disadvantage.

Authors

• Michele R Smith, University of Washington
  Presenting Author

• Liliana J. Lengua, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kevin M King, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author