Do parental neighbourhood perceptions contribute to child behaviour problems? A study of disadvantaged children

Abstract

Over the past decade disadvantaged communities are increasingly the target for intervention, with the introduction of a number of Area Based Initiatives (ABIs) designed to reduce the effects of poverty on children. However, an exclusive focus on the neighbourhood can overlook interactions between individuals' characteristics and their surroundings. Neighbourhood deprivation, parental mental health, parental personality, family stress and harsh discipline were included in a study of predictions of children's behaviour problems in a sample of 463 children aged 5 years and 12 years living in three disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England. Children's primary caregivers (primarily mothers) were given a structured questionnaire administered in the home as a face-to-face interview about the neighbourhood, the family, parenting, parental personality, parental mental current health and child behaviour. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that child factors (younger age group) and gender (male), neighbourhood factors (attachment and non-family networks), parental personality (agreeableness) and parent–child interactions (harsh discipline and family stress) accounted for 37% of the total variance in child behaviour problems. Interactions between parental mental health, parental personality, parenting and children's well-being need to be considered when introducing interventions related to neighbourhood deprivation and local disorder; these factors may inhibit some vulnerable families from the benefits of interventions.