Evidence That Neighborhood Threat and Brain Volume Mediate the Relationship Between Neighborhood Poverty and Children’s Psychopathology

Abstract

Increased rates of internalizing and externalizing behaviors have been observed in children from more impoverished neighborhoods. Correlates of neighborhood poverty (NP) such as increased crime rates or altered brain structure may contribute to this relationship. The goal of this project is to examine the extent to which NP relates to children’s mental health outcomes independent of household socioeconomic status, and to determine whether neighborhood threat, brain volume, and the structural integrity of white matter tracts mediate this relationship.