Citation

Skinner AT, Bacchini D, Lansford JE, Godwin J, Sorbring E, Tapanya S, Tirado LM, Zelli A, Alampay LP, Al-Hassan SM, Bombi AS, Bornstein MH, Chang L, Deater-Deckard K, Giunta LD, Dodge KA, Malone PS, Miranda MC, Oburu P, Pastorelli C. Societies (Basel) 2014; 4(1): 45-67.

Affiliation

Faculty of Psychology, Università di Roma "La Sapienza", 00185 Rome, Italy/ annasilvia.bombi@uniroma1.it.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publications Institute)

DOI

10.3390/soc4010045

PMID

25411645

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.

Language: en