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Preschool Children
Children who live in poor neighborhoods may be at increased risk of verbal and behavioral
problems. A new study suggests that for some of their parents, living in poor neighborhoods is
associated with poorer mental health, poorer family relations, and less consistent and more
punitive parenting. The study aimed to determine the relationships between neighborhood
characteristics and parenting, and between parenting and children's preschool performance.
Conducted by researchers at the University of Ottawa, Johns Hopkins University, the University
of British Columbia, and Statistics Canada, the study appears in the January/February 2008 issue
of Child Development.
"This study does not show that poverty leads to bad parenting, which in turn leads to poor
outcomes in children," according to Dafna E. Kohen, adjunct professor in the Department of
Epidemiology and Community Medicine at the University of Ottawa, senior research analyst at
Statistics Canada, and the study's lead author. "Rather, this study shows that in neighborhoods
where there is socioeconomic disadvantage, children's verbal and behavioral outcomes are
influenced by poor parental mental health and parenting behaviors."
Children's neighborhoods play an important role in their development, yet little is known about
how the characteristics of those neighborhoods affect young children. Existing research suggests
that children who live in poor neighborhoods are at greater risk of problems when entering school
and of behavioral and emotional difficulties. This study goes beyond the existing evidence to
explore characteristics of neighborhoods and how those characteristics relate to the well-being of
parents and children.
The study examined 3,528 preschoolers from a nationally representative sample of Canadian
children. Specifically, the researchers looked at characteristics such as neighborhood cohesion, or
the sense of trust among neighbors, and the sense of community organization (whether or not
residents can get together to address community issues or problems, for example). They also
looked at family factors such as mothers' mental health and how families function, and parenting
behaviors such as reading and discipline. And they measured the children's verbal ability and
assessed how their parents rated their children's behavior.
The researchers found that there is less neighborhood cohesion or mutual trust in poor
neighborhoods, which, in turn, can be associated with poorer mental health in parents and greater
family dysfunction. Furthermore, these factors are associated with less consistent and more
punitive parenting, the study found. Punitive parenting is associated with a greater incidence of
behavior problems in children. Families living in poor neighborhoods also are less likely to read
to their children at home, and children who are not read to by their parents have lower scores on
tests of verbal ability.
"Findings from this study demonstrate that the impact of living in a disadvantaged neighborhood
exerts its influence through both neighborhood and family mechanisms," according to Kohen.
"Children benefit from parents who are physically and emotionally healthy and live in safe
neighborhoods where they trust their neighbors. Among the implications of these findings are
community-based initiatives to promote literacy activities and parenting behaviors for the healthy
development of children and their families."