Interparental conflict moderates the association between neighborhood stress and adolescent health.

Abstract

Extensive research has linked neighborhood stress with poorer adolescent physical health, but there are individual differences in this association. There is robust evidence that qualities of family relationships, and particularly interparental conflict, can buffer or exacerbate the effects of neighborhood characteristics on development. The goal of this study was to examine interactions between perceived neighborhood stress and marital conflict in relation to reported adolescent health. Participants were 153 adolescents (48% male; 10-17 years of age) and their parents. Although there were no main effects of marital conflict on adolescent health, there was a significant (and negative) main effect of neighborhood stress as well as a significant interaction between neighborhood stress and marital conflict in relation to health. There was a significant and negative association between neighborhood stress and physical health for adolescents with parents who reported lower levels of marital conflict. Thus, the best self-reported health may be evident in children who benefit from living in a lower stress neighborhood and having low-conflict parents. In contrast, there was a nonsignificant association between neighborhood stress and physical health for adolescents from homes characterized by high marital conflict, suggesting that those from high-conflict homes may be less sensitive to the more distal influences of the neighborhood environment on health, as the more proximal influence of marital conflict may take precedence in increasing allostatic load and thus influencing health outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).