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Family and child characteristics linking neighborhood context and child externalizing behavior
Author(s) -
Roosa Mark W.,
Deng Shiying,
Ryu Ehri,
Lockhart Burrell Ginger,
Tein JennYun,
Jones Sarah,
Lopez Vera,
Crowder Sakina
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.0022-2445.2005.00132.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , context (archaeology) , association (psychology) , externalization , fragile families and child wellbeing study , family income , social psychology , geography , archaeology , psychotherapist , economic growth , economics
Neighborhood conditions are related to children's externalizing behavior, although few processes that help explain this association have been identified. With data from 189 primarily low‐income Anglo and Mexican American families, we tested a stress process model that included 3 potential mediators of this relationship. The results showed that child stressful life events, association with deviant peers, and parent‐child conflict mediated the relationship between neighborhood context and child externalizing behavior when household income and maternal depression were controlled. The model explained more than 25% of the variance in externalizing behavior. Furthermore, differences in results for families with a U.S.‐born versus Mexico‐born mother showed that neighborhood influences on families and children may be quite complex.