Influences of Youth Perceptions of Household Chaos on Adolescent Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors

• In Event: Home Instability, Structure & Interactions: Their Role in Predicting Adolescent Mental Health Problems

Abstract

Background: Chaos in the home environment, characterized by high levels of disorganization, crowding, noise, and unpredictability, is harmful to child development. A growing literature shows that in chaos in adolescence is associated with increases in risky health behaviors, delinquency, aggression, and general externalizing behaviors. However, this literature has several limitations including a heavy reliance on cross-sectional data, which is plagued by selection bias. Studies drawing on longitudinal data are limited insomuch as most assume that chaos is stable from year to year and often use measures of household chaos that predate outcome measures by several years. Furthermore, past studies predominantly use parent reports of household chaos, thereby disregarding teens’ own perceptions of their home context. This is an oversight because adolescents’ perceptions of their home environment may differ from their caregivers.

To remedy these limitations, the current study uses repeated measures of household chaos and adolescent externalizing and internalizing problems, collected monthly from caregivers and adolescents over a period of nine-months. Using hierarchical linear models (HLM), our study will 1) characterize variability of adolescent and caregiver reports of chaos; 2) consider how adolescent reports of chaos relate to caregivers’ reports; and 3) test whether adolescent and caregiver reports of chaos relate to adolescents’ externalizing and internalizing problems.

Methods/Sample: This study draws data from the Family Income Dynamics Study (FInD), a 9-month survey-based, longitudinal study. Participants included 104 adolescents (55% female) and their caregiver (92% female). Adolescents were between the ages of 14-16 and from socioeconomically and racially diverse families. Adolescents reported on their externalizing and internalizing problems using subscales from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 2007) at all 9 waves. Both adolescents and caregivers completed reports of household chaos using the 15-item Confusion Hubbub and Order Scale (Matheny et al., 1995) at 4 timepoints. Covariates included monthly income, household size, adolescent age, sex, and race.

Analysis: To address aim 1, inter-Class Correlations (ICC’s) for caregiver and adolescent reports were used to provide a description of stability and change in reports of household chaos. HLM were used to examine aim 2 adolescent chaos predicting caregiver chaos and aim 3 adolescent chaos as a stronger predictor of problems. This analytic approach takes advantage of within and between-individual variability in the main constructs of interest over time to reduce omitted variable bias and strengthen causal inference about links between chaos and externalizing/internalizing problems.
Results: Caregiver reports of household chaos (ICC=0.83) were more stable compared to adolescent reports (ICC=0.69). Variation in adolescent-reported chaos predicted caregiver-reported chaos when looking between dyads, but it was unrelated to caregiver reports when looking within dyad (Table 1). Adolescent reports of chaos, but not caregiver reports, positively predicted adolescent behavior problems. Specifically, adolescent-reported chaos had strong within- and between-level associations with externalizing problems, including conduct and hyperactive-inattention problems (Table 1). Links between adolescent-reported chaos and internalizing were only observed when looking between dyads- (Table 1). This work spotlights the need to consider adolescent perceptions of their contexts as caregiver reports may not capture the lived experience of adolescents.

Authors

• Daniesha S. Hunter-Rue, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author

• Portia Miller, University of Pittsburgh

• Jamie L Hanson, University of Pittsburgh

• Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, University of Pittsburgh