Citation

Pei F, Wang X, Yoon S, Tebben E. J. Community Psychol. 2019; 47(5): 1105-1117.

Affiliation

College of Social Work, The Ohio State University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jcop.22174

PMID

30811041

Abstract

AIMS: The current study examined both the direct and indirect influences of neighborhood disorder on early childhood externalizing problems among 3,036 three-year-old children.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Data used in this study were drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,036). The results of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) indicated that living in disordered neighborhoods is directly associated with higher levels of early childhood externalizing problems. Moreover, parental stress and physical maltreatment significantly mediated the relationship between neighborhood disorder and externalizing problems at children's age 3.

CONCLUSION: Parents living in chaotic neighborhoods may accumulate higher levels of parental stress and physically maltreat their children, which in turn increased their children's externalizing problems. Our findings support the importance of interventions of early childhood externalizing problems at both the micro and macro levels. Intervention programs that address neighborhood disorders, as well as challenges in parenting, are recommended.

© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Language: en

Keywords

early childhood; externalizing problems; neighborhood disorder; parental stress; physical maltreatment