Does Neighborhood Social Capital Buffer the Effects of Maternal Depression on Adolescent Behavior Problems?

Abstract

Neighborhood characteristics have been shown to impact child well-being. However, it remains unclear how these factors combine with family characteristics to influence child development. The current study helps develop that understanding by investigating how neighborhoods directly impact child and adolescent behavior problems as well as moderate the influence of family characteristics on behavior. Using multilevel linear models, we examined the relationship among neighborhood conditions (poverty and social capital) and maternal depression on child and adolescent behavior problems. The sample included 741 children, age 5–11, and 564 adolescents, age 12–17. Outcomes were internalizing (e.g. anxious/depressed) and externalizing (e.g. aggressive/hyperactive) behavior problems. Neighborhood poverty and maternal depression were both positively associated with behavior problems for children and adolescents. However, while neighborhood social capital was not directly associated with behavior problems, the interaction of social capital and maternal depression was significantly related to behavior problems for adolescents. This interaction showed that living in neighborhoods with higher levels of social capital attenuated the relationship between maternal depression and adolescent behavior problems and confirmed the expectation that raising healthy well-adjusted children depends not only on the family, but also the context in which the family lives.

Neighborhood disadvantage and physical aggression in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of multilevel studies

“…No consensus currently exists on whether the effects of neighborhoods are stronger for younger or older young people. Although some studies (Sastry & Pebley, 2010;Woolley et al, 2008) indicated stronger neighborhood effects for older children, others (e.g., Delany-Brumsey et al, 2014) found that neighborhoods exerted greater influence on children than on adolescents. Our finding of a smaller effect size in adolescents than in children may be due to other unmeasured aspects of living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, such as exposure to neighborhood violence or deviant peer associations, than to socioeconomic disadvantage per se.…”

“…Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis for the remaining 43 articles. We derived 49 effect sizes for the metaanalysis because five studies (Drukker, Kaplan, Feron, Van Os, & Korebrits, 2010;Fagan & Wright, 2012;Heberle, Thomas, Wagmiller, Briggs-Gowan, & Carter, 2014;Karriker-Jaffe, Foshee, Ennett, & Suchindran, 2009;Pabayo, Molnar, & Kawachi, 2014) reported results separately for male and female participants, and one study (Delany-Brumsey, Mays, & Cochran, 2014) reported results separately for children (ages 5-11 years) and adolescents (ages 12-17 years). Two studies (Goodnight et al, 2012;Santiago, Wadsworth, & Stump, 2011) reported the neighborhood effects on both aggression and delinquency, and one study (Farrell, Mehari, Kramer-Kuhn, & Goncy, 2014) reported outcomes across two time points; thus, we used the combined effects across outcomes and time points.…”

“…Sensitivity analysis. Sensitivity analysis was conducted by excluding nine studies (Caughy, Nettles, & O'Campo, 2008;Delany-Brumsey et al, 2014;Fabio, Li-Chuan, Loeber, & Cohen, 2011;Farrell et al, 2014;Ge, Brody, Conger, Simons, & Murry, 2002;Kohen, Oliver, & Pierre, 2009;Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2011;Lima, Caughy, Nettles, & O'Campo, 2010;Winslow & Shaw, 2007) with relatively wide 95%CIs. No substantial change was observed in the pooled effect.…”

The intersection of extreme poverty and familial mental health in the United States

“…Scarce resources and supports, community violence, vandalism and crime, substance use and the accessibility of drugs, unstable housing, unemployment, and food insecurity (Slopen, Fitzmaurice, Williams, & Gilman, 2010) contribute to high rates of caregiver stress and depression in poverty-impacted communities (Delaney-Brumsey, Mays, & Cochran, 2014). Additionally, poverty undermines the parent/child relationship and erodes the quality of parenting, which, along with environmental stressors, elevates the risk of child behavioral problems (Burke, Loeber, & Birmaher, 2002; Delany-Brumsey et al, 2014; Sundquist et al, 2015).…”

Context‐Dependent Pathways of the Transmission of Risk from Communities to Individuals

“…They are naturally embedded within a community context, and are therefore intricately related to other contextual risks. Cumulative risk exposure across multiple ecological domains significantly increases risk for maladaptive outcomes (Stoddard et al 2013; Farmer et al 2004; Chilenski and Greenberg 2009); however, at the same time, exposure to protective or promotive factors in one domain may attenuate the effects of risk in the other (Delany-Brumsey et al 2014). This suggests that families and the communities in which they reside are related in nuanced and complex ways (Delany-Brumsey et al 2014).…”