A Multilevel Study of Young Children's Emotional Health

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This proposal is designed to examine individual, family and neighborhood influences on young children's aggression, attention, and anxiety (mental health). These associations are explored using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), a multi-level study in which households were randomly selected from 80 Chicago neighborhoods stratified by race/ethnicity (7 categories including homogenous and heterogenous make-ups( and SES (high, medium, & low) to be representative of families living in a wide range of Chicago neighborhoods (N=2269, 16% European Americans, 35% African American, & 43% Latinos). For this proposal, 3 waves of data will be used for 2 cohorts of children, the first seen when they were 6 months and again at ages 3 and 5 (0 cohort), and the second seen at 3 years and again at ages 5 and 76 (3 cohort) Three types of emotional problems- aggression, anxiety and attentional difficulties-were measured when the 0 cohort was ages 3 and 5 and the 3 cohort was ages 3, 5, and 7. In addition, regulation measures (delay of gratification, motor control, and sustained attention) were collected for the 0 cohort at 6 months and 5 years. Neighborhood characteristics (income, poverty, racial/ethnic composition, employment, & residential stability) and processes (norms and collective efficacy, institutional resources, & ties and relationships were assessed just before wave 1 and at the time of wave 3. More proximal "micro-neighborhood" processes from 2 observations of neighborhoods collected at these same time points also will be coded. Funny characteristics (income, single- parenthood, race/ethnicity, parental employment, and turbulence) and processes (violence, conflict, and aggression, parental warmth/harshness, parental mental health, developmental stimulation, & routines & connectedness) were measured at all 3 waves. Child characteristics assessed include gender, neonatal health, and temperament. This project will address 5 primary questions: (a) Are individual, family, and neighborhood characteristics associated with young children's emotional health? (B) Do family processes mediate or moderate associations among individual, family, and neighborhood characteristics and young children's emotional health? (c) What are the salient features of "micro" neighborhood contexts of young children? Do these and other neighborhood processes mediate or moderate associations among individual, family, and neighborhood characteristics and young children's emotional health? (D) What is the distribution of self- regulation among preschool children drawn from a large, urban, and diverse sample interviewed in home-based settings? Does this distribution vary by child, family, and neighborhood influences and preschool children's emotional health? In sum, this investigation is a unique opportunity to address the role of neighborhoods in the lives of young children and their families, while using state-of-the-art methodologies to measure neighborhood processes as well as young children's behavior. It is expected that results from this study will address potential targets of intervention for programs aimed at improving young children's mental health.