Aspects Of Home Environment Research Articles

Life in the Living Room: An Expression of Personality in Late Life?

Recent research has found that micro environments (i.e., residential spaces) provide information about psychological processes in young adults. This study examined older adults’ living spaces. Participants (N = 171) from the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study completed measures of personality. Interviewers took 3 to 4 photographs of the room where participant spends the most time. Independent coders rated the rooms for 33 features (e.g., cleanliness, light, clutter) on a 5 point scale. Regression analyses revealed that personality was associated in anticipated ways. For example, conscientiousness was associated with rooms in better condition, neuroticism with less brightness, and by contrast, extraversion with greater brightness and more color. Discussion focuses on bidirectional emotional aspects of home environments that may contribute to well-being. Macro environments (e.g., neighborhoods) shape late life well-being, but understanding micro environments where older adults spend the majority of their time also may contribute to advances in the field.

Aspects of Home Environment and Adolescent Sexual Behaviour in Southwestern Nigeria

This study examines adolescent sexual behaviour within the context of the home environment (urban low, medium and high residential density) in which the yougsters live. Spatial variations in five variables measuring sexual behaviour: first sex experience, age of first sex, identity of sexual partner, use of family planning (FP) and number of sexual partner were analysed with ANOVA. The data obtained from a survey of 1670 adolescents in two pre-colonial cities in South Western Nigeria reveals that pre-marital sexual relations among urban adolescents is not only becoming a near universal phenomenon, but also the mean age of first sexual encounter is declining. Of great concern is the identity of sexual partners, which now includes commercial sex hawkers. Also noteworthy is the high level of sexual activity with about 3 out of every 4 adolescents having sex with more than one partner in the last six months of the study. These practices are most prominent in the high density home environment. Against the background of observed widespread non-use of FP, the findings of this study raise concern about the public health importance of STIs, and the fact that conventional STIs facilitate the acquisition and transmission of HIV. The need to focus more policy and programme attention on adolescent sexuality behaviour is compelling.

43. Chaotic childhood home environment is associated with heightened inflammatory markers in adult breast cancer survivors

Stress in early life, such as childhood home environments characterized by harsh or chaotic parenting, is strongly associated with negative mental and physical health outcomes. Previous studies suggest a link between early life stress and elevated inflammatory markers in later life, which may contribute to poor long-term health. However, it is unclear what aspect of the home environment might influence inflammatory processes, and whether these associations are evident in cancer patients, for whom elevated inflammation has particular health significance. This study examined the association between three aspects of a stressful childhood home environment (neglectful parenting, chaos/disorganized home, and abuse) and plasma inflammatory markers (IL-6, IL-1RA, sTNF-RII, and CRP) in a sample of 126 breast cancer survivors assessed one year after treatment with surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy. Results showed that chaos and disorganization within the childhood home were associated with higher levels of IL-6 ( B = .035, p = .035) and sTNF-RII ( B = .013, p = .024), but neither neglectful parenting nor abuse were associated with any inflammatory markers. The associations held after controlling for age, BMI, endocrine therapy status, cancer treatment history, current depressive symptoms, and current perceived stress level. Results suggest that growing up in a chaotic and disorganized home may lead to chronic inflammation in breast cancer survivors, with potential relevance for long-term health and well-being.

Perceived Aspects of Home Environment and Home Modifications by Older People Living in Rural Areas

This study investigated the relationships between the “perceived aspects” of current home environment of elderly people living in rural areas and their home modification behavior. To investigate this perception, home satisfaction, perception of home capability, and home safety were used as perceived aspects of the home. Data were collected by a questionnaire. The response rate was 43.1%, with 317 eligible questionnaires. The results from this study indicate that there was no significant difference in perceived aspects of home environment between those who modified their homes and those who did not. Regardless of their current home conditions, most elderly respondents (75%) showed high home satisfaction. Results from this study suggest that a modified home environment does not necessarily contribute to an older person's perception of perceived aspects of their home environment.

Influence of Home Environment on Psychomotor Development of Infants in Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh

The study focuses on the influence of home environment on psychomotor development of infants through stimulatory intervention on a sample of 145 male and female infants of age birth to 18 months from two villages, one of which served as experimental group and the other control group. A modified version of Home inventory by Bradley and Caldwell was used to know the home environment in addition to the Bayley's Scale of Infant Development (BSID) which was used to assess motor development of infants. Intervention focusing on aspects of home environment and developmental milestones of infants was provided to mothers of infants along with necessary stimulation to infants was provided to the experimental group while no such experience was given to the control group. All the infants were pre and post tested after the intervention period. The results revealed significant differences in home environment, motor age and psychomotor developmental indices between the experimental and control group infants. A significant association was also found between home environment and psychomotor developmental indices of infants.

Child Characteristics, Home Social‐Contextual Factors, and Children's Academic Peer Interaction Behaviors in Kindergarten

This study addressed questions about the relations between personal characteristics and aspects of home environments and young children's subsequent academically relevant peer interaction behaviors in kindergarten in a sample of 108 preschool‐age children (57 males, 51 females) from 2 Midwest cities and neighboring communities. A year prior to the children's entrance to kindergarten their cognitive skills were assessed through a battery of tests. In addition, child temperament characteristics (self‐control and responsiveness), parent emphasis on structure (order, organization, routine) and communication (emphasis on discussion and expression of ideas in the home), and parent control beliefs in the home were assessed through parent questionnaires and reports. Each child was observed in the kindergarten classroom during student‐centered academic tasks on at least 3 occasions throughout the following year. Each child was observed for 5‐minute intervals (for a total of an hour and a half) during which the observer coded 5 academic peer interaction behaviors: instructional support, direction, normative exchange, passivity, and distractive behavior with peers. Findings revealed that child resources (cognitive skills and temperament) and home structures influenced how children responded to information and sanctions within the home and in turn the roles they assumed and the quality of their academic interactions with peers, and that personal factors mediated the effects of the home social factors.

Intervention and Its Impact on Home Environment of Rural Male Infants in Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh

The present study was undertaken to assess the impact of comprehensive intervention programme in relation to home environment of rural male infants in the age group of seven to twelve months. Out of the total sample of 60 male infants belonging to low socio economic status families 30 each were taken as experimental and control groups. The experimental group was provided with age appropriate intervention on the aspects of home environment. The infants in both the groups were pre tested and post tested through a modified version of Bradley and Caldwells HOME inventory. Results showed significant impact of intervention on the home environment scores of infants belonging to experimental group. (authors)

Relationships between early literate experience and knowledge and children's linguistic pragmatic strategies

A three-year study of 67 three- and four-year-olds assessed the impact of literate aspects of home environment and early knowledge about literacy upon strategies for comprehension of directive illocutionary acts. It was hypothesized that children inclined toward what Olson has termed a ‘literate bias’ in language use would tend to locate meaning within the linguistic element of illocutionary acts rather than making appropriate use of context in the comprehension process. Baseline measures of literate experience and knowledge were administered in the first year of the study. These included Shapiro's Home Literacy Environment Index, Clay's Concepts About Print test, and two subtests of Downing's Linguistic Awareness in Reading Readiness battery. Metaliteracy factors were then derived from these and several additional early literacy measures. An illocutionary act comprehension task employed puppet play set in realistic contexts, with the linguistic element of each task item presented both in full and in phonologically-distorted form. This provided a means of assessing the extent to which subjects required intact linguistic information in order to assign illocutionary force to an utterance. Children on the higher ends of the home literacy environment scale and several of the measures of print concepts demonstrated more linguistic rather than contextual dependence, and did so up to a year sooner than children on the lower ends of the scales, regardless of chronological age. The results offer support to the claim that there is a bias in one general pragmatic process for those children who have been more extensively socialized into literate uses of language.

A Biometrical Analysis of Perceptions of Family Environment: A Study of Twin and Singleton Sibling Kinships

Biometrical genetic analysis was applied to sibling and twin kinship data on 2 dimensions of perceived home environment. Correlations on 1 dimension, Restrictiveness-Permissiveness, were equal and significant for all kinships: MZ twins, DZ twins, same-sex siblings, and opposite-sex siblings significant for all 4 kinships: MZ twins, DZ twins, same-sex siblings, and opposite-sex siblings (r greater than .40). An E2-E1 biometrical model fitted Restrictiveness-Permissiveness, implying that treatments common to siblings create agreement about perceived environment. As intrapair differences were the same for all 4 kinships under this model, the equal environments assumption of the twin method was supported. In contrast, the Acceptance-Rejection dimension fitted a G-E1 model that makes the assumption that sibling similarity is the result of genetic factors and postulates an absence of shared environmental influences. This finding suggests that this aspect of home environment may depend as much on the child's inherited traits as on actual treatments and is in accord with the genetic analysis of individual traits in that developmentally effective environmental factors do not appear to be common to siblings.

The Relation of Infants' Home Environments to Mental Test Performance at Fifty-four Months: A Follow-up Study

BRADLEY, ROBERT H., and CALDWELL, BETTYE M. The Relation of Infants' Home Environments to Mental Test Performance at Fifty-four Months: A Follow-up Study. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1976, 47, 1172-1174. In an earlier study Elardo, Bradley, and Caldwell used the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) to examine relations between the quality of stimulation available in infants' home environments and the infants' mental test scores. HOME scores taken during the first 2 years of life showed a moderate relation to performance on the Bayley Mental Development Index and a strong relationship to 3-year Stanford-Binet IQ. Results from the present follow-up study indicate that home environment scores during the first 2 years of life were strongly related to 54-month IQ scores. Of the 6 aspects of home environment measured by HOME, Emotional and Verbal Responsivity of Mother, Maternal Involvement with Child, and Provision of Appropriate Play Materials revealed the most substantial association with mental test performance at 54 months. Results show that the pattern of relationships between HOME scores and mental test performance changes somewhat across the early childhood years.