Poster #103 - The Role of Economic Exclusion on Parental Stress and Children’s Behavior.

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

Children thrive in stable and nurturing environments, where family stability and parental resources are essential for child wellbeing (Sandstrom & Huerta, 2013). However, the Family Stress Model (Conger, Conger, & Martin, 2010) posits that structural factors such as economic exclusion can create challenges for vulnerable families. Prior research has demonstrated the importance of moderators when looking at the effects of economic hardship on parental stress (Chan & Lam, 2017). In the present study, we examine if parental stress moderates the relationship between economic hardship and child behavior outcomes. We used data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its 2014 Child Development Supplement (CDS) to examine the above hypothesis. The complete CDS dataset includes 3,563 children between the ages of 0-17 years, of which we selected a subset of 1,035 children with an age range of 5-10 years. (M = 7.84 years, SD =1.7). After selecting one child per household (up to two siblings per household were included in the CDS), the final sample consisted of 1,295 children. Participants were White (51.7%), African American (38.8%), and Latino/Asian/Native American (4.6%). Half the sample were girls and 62% lived in a two-parent home. The analysis controlled for number of children in the household (M= 2, SD=1.1), as it might contribute towards parental stress. The economic exclusion index was composed of four indicators: food security, unemployment, having a car, and a savings/checking account. Our child development outcome, child behavior problems, was developed from the Achenbach Behavior Problems Checklist, which measures the incidence and severity of child behavior outcomes (Peterson & Zill, 1986) and ranged from 0 to 27 with (M =7.14, SD=6.13). Parental Stress was measured with a 9-item scale and ranged from 7 to 35(M= 17.11, SD=5.3), with a Cronbach’s alpha of α= .69. The variable measures the stress that parents may feel because of changes in employment, income, and other factors.
A moderating model was tested using SPSS Process estimation software (Hayes, 2017). We controlled for child race, parental marital status, child gender, and number of children in the family unit (Table 1). We used parental stress as a moderator in the regression analysis between EE and child behavior problems. Results indicated that parental stress significantly moderated the relationship between EE and behavior problems, while controlling for demographic variables. The predictor explained 15% of the variance in the model, F(7,977)= 24.44, p < .001. To avoid issues of multicollinearity with the interaction term, the variables were centered. The EE*Parental Stress interaction term was significant, b =.07, t(977)=2.3, p <.05. Figure 1 illustrates that the effects of EE on child behavior outcomes have a similar pattern in parents with low and average stress levels. Among parents with high levels of parenting stress, minor increases child behavior problems are observed with more economic inclusion, as compared to parents with low and average levels of parental stress. Understanding the consequences of EE on families helps us to put forward a more robust method of measuring economic deprivation in families with children.

Authors

• Diana Cedeño, Montclair State University
  Presenting Author

• Miriam Linver, Montclair State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• satabdi samtani, Montclair State University
  Non-Presenting Author