Neighborhood Danger, Parental Monitoring, Harsh Parenting, and Child Aggression in Nine Countries

Abstract

Exposure to neighborhood danger during childhood has negative effects that permeate multiple dimensions of childhood. The current study examined whether mothers’, fathers’, and children's perceptions of neighborhood danger are related to child aggression, whether parental monitoring moderates this relation, and whether harsh parenting mediates this relation. Interviews were conducted with a sample of 1,293 children (age M = 10.68, SD = .66; 51% girls) and their mothers (n = 1,282) and fathers (n = 1,075) in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). Perceptions of greater neighborhood danger were associated with more child aggression in all nine countries according to mothers’ and fathers’ reports and in five of the nine countries according to children's reports. Parental monitoring did not moderate the relation between perception of neighborhood danger and child aggression. The mediating role of harsh parenting was inconsistent across countries and reporters. Implications for further research are discussed, and include examination of more specific aspects of parental monitoring as well as more objective measures of neighborhood danger.

Chaos, danger, and maternal parenting in families: Links with adolescent adjustment in low‐ and middle‐income countries

“…It is noteworthy that like the current results, prior cultural comparative work also pointed to similarities rather than differences between wealthy versus poorer countries in the direction and magnitude of the associations between chaos, neighborhood danger, harsher parenting, and child maladjustment (Evans & Wachs, ; Ferguson et al, ; Skinner et al, ; Wachs & Corapci, ). The similarity in effect sizes is particularly noteworthy, when one considers that there are much higher levels of poverty, crime, and social disarray in many LMICs compared to high‐income countries; this may alter risk and resilience processes, and the statistical effects detected in studies (Barry, Clarke, Jenkins, & Patel, ).…”

“…It is noteworthy that like the current results, prior cultural comparative work also pointed to similarities rather than differences between wealthy versus poorer countries in the direction and magnitude of the associations between chaos, neighborhood danger, harsher parenting, and child maladjustment (Evans & Wachs, 2010;Ferguson et al, 2013;Skinner et al, 2014;Wachs & Corapci, 2003).…”

“…For each reporter, a scale was created by averaging four items (rated on a 4‐point Likert‐type scale) capturing whether: youth get in trouble, there are drugs and gangs, neighborhood is dangerous, and one feels scared. A neighborhood danger scale was constructed by averaging the standardized scales across reporters (α by site: China = 0.73, Kenya = 0.70, Philippines = 0.87, Thailand = 0.77, Colombia = 0.86, and Jordan = 0.87; Skinner et al, ).…”

Moral competence and conduct disorder among Filipino children in conflict with the law

“…There may be bidirectional and interactive effects between negative parenting and externalizing behavior . Specifically, negative dyadic interchanges between a parent with abusive tendencies and a child with externalizing behavior promote aggressive behavior in both parties, leading to conduct problems in the child …”

“…Negative interactions with parents have a detrimental effect on the emotional and psychological development of children, increasing their risk for aggression, delinquency, withdrawal, and other behaviors symptomatic of conduct disorder. [51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60] Most studies on child maltreatment and subsequent antisocial behavior have been conducted in Western countries. The US National Comorbidity Survey demonstrated that physically punished children were 1.3 times more likely to develop psychological problems and antisocial behavior compared to controls.…”