Open AccessAdolescent functioning in housing and family contexts: A mixed methods study.
Author(s) -
Margaret C. Elliott,
Elizabeth A. Shuey,
Tama Leventhal
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of family psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.138
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1939-1293
pISSN - 0893-3200
DOI - 10.1037/fam0000220
Subject(s) - psychology , autonomy , context (archaeology) , developmental psychology , mental health , welfare , multilevel model , social environment , ethnography , social psychology , sociology , paleontology , social science , machine learning , political science , computer science , law , psychotherapist , biology , anthropology
Although adolescents begin to seek autonomy and strive to be out of the home on their own, the housing context remains the primary setting of their daily lives. Using survey and ethnographic data from Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three City Study (e.g., Winston et al., 1999), this study explored quantitatively and qualitatively how two salient aspects of the housing context, physical housing problems and household size, were associated with low-income adolescents’ emotional and academic functioning, and how these associations were modified by mother–adolescent relationships (specifically, trust and communication) and gender. Results of cross-lagged hierarchical linear models suggest that adolescents living in homes with more housing problems had more mental health symptoms, whereas living in larger households was associated with higher achievement, but only in the context of lower quality mother–adolescent relationships. Qualitative analyses helped to interpret these results by illuminating potential pathways underlying associations observed in quantitative results.