Residential Contexts and Children’s Problems: A Daily Diary Exploration

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

Research suggests children’s residential contexts are associated with their emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development (Coley et al., 2013; Lim et al., 2018; Schubert et al., 2019). Low-income families are more likely to live in poor quality homes and be disproportionally exposed to environmental hazards, such as excessive noise (Maqbool et al., 2015; Lim et al., 2018). Thus, residential or housing contexts may be an important but often overlooked source of socioeconomic inequality driving inequities in children’s health and development (Leventhal & Newman, 2010). Current survey measures of housing characteristics may not accurately capture low-income families’ ability to adapt their housing units to meet children’s needs. The goal of this study is to explore associations between daily diary reports of housing quality and noise and children’s behavior problems in a sample of predominately low- and modest-income families.

This study uses baseline data from the Housing and Children’s Healthy Development (HCHD) Study (Newman & Leventhal, 2018). Families with children 3-10 years of age were either part of an experimental sample of low-income families who applied for a federal housing voucher or part of a probability sample over-representing low-income families. This study is being conducted in the racially and ethnically diverse metropolitan areas of Cleveland and Dallas; two cities that have public housing authorities who randomly allocate housing vouchers.

The HCHD daily diary was adapted from Repetti and Wood (1997) and administered to one randomly selected child per family on a randomly selected weekday and weekend day. The completion rate was 35%, making the current analyses exploratory. Items related to noise (e.g. During the day, how much did noise inside your home disturb you?; α = .80) and items related to housing quality (e.g. ‘Space available for schoolwork was…’; α = .95) were used to create the respective variables. Preliminary analyses suggested modest within family daily variability, thus scores were averaged across the two days. Noise scores ranged from 1-5 (M = 1.79, SD = .65), and housing quality scores ranged from 1-3 (M = 2.77, SD = .38). Children’s internalizing (e.g. feelings of worthlessness; M = 1.34, SD = .29) and externalizing problem scores (e.g. disruptive in schools; M = 1.61, SD = .41) ranged from 1-3 and were assessed by the parent-reported Behavior Problems Index (Peterson & Zill, 1986).

Linear regressions were conducted using household noise and quality as predictor variables of children’s behavior problems. Preliminary results suggested more noise disturbance around a family’s home was associated with children’s greater internalizing and externalizing behaviors (β = .14, p < .00; β = .17, p <.00, respectively). Housing quality, however, was not associated with children’s internalizing behaviors (β = -.04, p = .27), and unexpectedly, higher quality was associated with children’s greater externalizing behaviors (β = -.06, p = .05).

These daily diary findings are consistent with literature reporting links between noise disturbances and children’s socioemotional functioning. The current analysis does not support prior studies regarding housing quality and children’s adjustment. Final analyses will employ a multilevel approach and investigate covariates.

Authors

• Danielle Marie DeMaio, Boston Children's Hospital
  Presenting Author

• Tama Leventhal, Tufts University
  Non-Presenting Author