The Home and the ‘Hood: Associations Between Housing and Neighborhood Contexts and Adolescent Functioning

Abstract

Adolescents from low-income families face various opportunities and constraints as they develop, with possible ramifications for their well-being. Two contexts of particular importance are the home and the neighborhood. Using adolescent data from the first two waves of the Three City Study (N = 1,169), this study explored associations among housing problems and neighborhood disorder with adolescents’ socioemotional problems, and how these associations varied by parental monitoring and gender. Results of hierarchical linear models suggest that poor quality housing was most predictive of the functioning of girls and of adolescents with restrictive curfews, whereas neighborhood disorder was a stronger predictor for boys. Implications for future research on associations between housing and neighborhood contexts and adolescent development are discussed.

Adverse Housing Conditions and Early‐Onset Delinquency

“…Our indicators of adverse housing conditions fall into three categories (listed in order of diminishing prevalence): (a) housing disarray (40%), (b) housing deterioration (13%), and (c) housing health/safety hazards (7%). Additional measures of housing risks in the absence or presence of health/safety hazards were also constructed for this study, in light of prior research highlighting the particular relevance of certain safety risks in the physical household environment in adolescent delinquency (Elliott et al., ). All available data on housing conditions from independent‐raters is encompassed in the housing dimensions presented in this study.…”

“…In light of the connection between parenting and delinquency (Hay, ), three parenting variables were included as covariates in the analyses: early cognitive stimulation (e.g., parent frequently engaged in reading, singing, and playing with child as infant; α = .96), parental involvement (e.g., playing sports, watching TV, playing games, helping with homework, talking about child's day, talking about current events; items were summed and averaged to create the index; α = .71), and physical punishment (i.e., parents were asked to report whether they had spanked or hit the child during the 30 days prior to the survey). Finally, due to the nexus between neighborhood disorder and delinquency (Jang & Johnson, ), and the overlap between neighborhood and household risk (Elliott et al., ), a measure neighborhood disorder using interviewer observations was included in the analysis (i.e., litter/broken glass in the streets, vacant buildings, dilapidated housing, abandoned vehicles, and graffiti; α = .85).…”

“…Fewer studies have compared and contrasted the relevance of multiple dimensions of adverse housing conditions (e.g., a combination of disarray/clutter, deterioration, health/safety hazards) in behavioral development during childhood. Finally, researchers have largely overlooked the potential for adverse housing conditions during childhood to be associated with an increased risk of early‐onset delinquency (i.e., delinquent involvement prior to adolescence; see Elliott, Leventhal, Shuey, Lynch & Coley, ; for an adolescent cohort). Exploring the childhood risk factors for early‐onset delinquency is particularly worthwhile, as it is one of the best predictors of serious, life‐course‐persistent offending (Moffitt & Caspi, ), which has been deemed “the most important pediatric mental health problem” (Eme, , p. 486).…”

“…One notable exception is a recent study of the adolescent cohort of the Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three‐City Study by Elliott et al. (), which suggests that hazardous housing conditions (e.g., leaking roofs, broken windows, rodents, heater or stove not working, peeling paint, exposed wiring) during the adolescent years predict delinquent involvement 1–2 years later. Despite the relative dearth of studies that specifically examine housing conditions as predictors of delinquency, a related body of work suggests that delinquent involvement among youth may, in part, be a function of early exposure to lead—a toxin commonly found in older homes characterized by one or more adverse housing conditions (e.g., deterioration/safety hazards; see Jacobs et al., ).…”

“…This study seeks to build upon the findings of Elliott et al. (), and the growing number of scholars linking various adverse housing conditions to children's behavioral development. We build upon prior research by comparing and contrasting the influence of multiple components of the physical household environment (i.e., disarray, deterioration, health/safety hazards) during early childhood (i.e., age 5) on the likelihood of early‐onset delinquency (i.e., age 9/10).…”