Impact of Timing of Residential Moves and Fluctuations of Neighborhood Disadvantage on Youth Adjustment

• In Event: Environmental Risk Exposure and its Effects from Infancy to Adolescence: Differential Susceptibility to Context

Abstract

Neighborhood structural characteristics matter for youth development. Studies show that residential mobility (RM) and neighborhood disadvantage (i.e., low neighborhood SES) are associated with worse behavioral outcomes and lower achievement (Leventhal et al., 2018; Sharkey & Faber, 2014). Some work also suggests that the timing of moves matters; compared to early childhood, moving during middle childhood and adolescence adversely impacts youth’s mental health (Li et al., 2019) due to compromised peer networks. Less research examines how change in neighborhood SES resulting from RM affects youth. The current study explored how timing and extent of RM were associated with youth well-being and achievement and whether neighborhood SES fluctuations moderated these associations.

Our hypotheses were: 1) RM and neighborhood disadvantage would be positively associated with internalizing and externalizing behavior and negatively associated with achievement. This negative association would be amplified during middle childhood and adolescence compared to early childhood. 2) Neighborhood disadvantage would moderate the associations between RM and youth outcomes.

The sample consisted of 361 families from cohort I of the Early Growth and Development Study (Leve et al., 2019), a longitudinal adoption study. Children (57.3% male) were majority Caucasian (57.1%) or mixed ethnicity (21.3%), and adoptive parents were majority Caucasian (~90%) with mean household incomes of $70k-$100k. Data collection is ongoing.

Parents provided retrospective accounts of children’s residential history from infancy to ~13.82 years old. RM was calculated from the number of moves between census tracts; we examined total moves and specific developmental periods: early childhood (age 0-5), middle childhood (age 6-11), and adolescence (age 12+). Neighborhood disadvantage mean and lability (mean squared successive difference) scores were calculated for each child (percentage of adults aged 25+ without a high school diploma, unemployed adults aged 16+, female-headed households, and families with income below poverty level). Both parents rated youth’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors (age 11) on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL, Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) and one parent reported grades (age 15).

Preliminary regression analyses (Table 1) showed that only total residential moves across developmental periods were positively related to achievement at age 15 (β=.28, p=.02). Mean neighborhood disadvantage was positively associated with externalizing behavior at age 11 (β=.16, p=.05). Preliminary findings regarding the effect of RM timing on youth outcomes (Table 2) suggest that early childhood movers had significantly higher achievement compared to those who did not move, t(87)=2.1, p=.04, but did not differ on their internalizing or externalizing. Also, children who moved during adolescence had significantly higher achievement and higher internalizing behaviors compared to those who did not move, t(87)=2.1, p=.05, t(216)=2.1, p=.05. Results suggest that RM was associated with worse internalizing behaviors but with higher achievement. It might be that high SES families move to provide youth a better environment (e.g., better school district) which may increase youth achievement but, due to disruption in peer support, the move negatively impacts mental health. Additional analyses will examine RM timing together with neighborhood disadvantage and whether average neighborhood disadvantage and its lability score moderate associations between RM and youth outcomes.

Authors

• Wei Wei, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author

• Amanda Ramos, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dawn Paula Witherspoon, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tiyobista M Maereg, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Danielle Marie Seay, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• David Reiss, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Misaki N. Natsuaki, University of California - Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jody M. Ganiban, George Washington University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Leslie D. Leve, University of Oregon
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jenae M Neiderhiser, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author