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Parental‐perceived neighborhood characteristics and adolescent depressive symptoms: A multilevel moderation analysis
Author(s) -
Dawson Christyl T.,
Wu Wensong,
Fennie Kristopher P.,
Ibañez Gladys,
Cano Miguel Á.,
Pettit Jeremy W.,
Trepka Mary Jo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.22205
Subject(s) - moderation , psychology , multilevel model , depressive symptoms , psychological intervention , clinical psychology , poverty , developmental psychology , mediation , structural equation modeling , disadvantage , psychiatry , social psychology , cognition , machine learning , computer science , political science , law , economics , economic growth , statistics , mathematics
Abstract Aims This study examines the moderating role of parental neighborhood perceptions on the relationship between neighborhood structural disadvantage and adolescent depressive symptoms. Methods Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) consisting of 12,105 adolescents and their parents were used. Results Mixed effects multilevel modeling revealed that parental‐perceived neighborhood disorder was associated with higher levels of adolescent depressive symptoms ( β = .27, p ≤ .001). The interaction between neighborhood concentrated poverty and parental‐perceived neighborhood disorder was also significant ( β = −.14, p ≤ .01). Low and high levels of parental‐perceived neighborhood disorder were associated with lower ( β = −.41, p < .05) and higher ( β = .46, p ≤ .01) levels of adolescent depressive symptoms, respectively, with increasing concentrated poverty. Parental‐perceived collective efficacy was not associated with adolescent depressive symptoms nor was it a moderator. Conclusion Findings suggest that the neighborhood's social environment may mitigate adolescent depressive symptoms. Implications for structural interventions are discussed.