Processes of child risk in family and community contexts

描述(由申请人提供)：本研究的目的是了解家庭和社区逆境形式对儿童心理健康影响的潜在过程。提出了几个基本假设。首先，据预测，更大的逆境将与儿童更大的并发和随后的适应不良相关；此外，邻居和家庭逆境被视为潜在的对儿童适应的影响，既有相加的影响，也有中介的影响(社区通过家庭影响)。其次，将考虑逆境与精神病理学之间的中介过程。在依恋和情绪安全理论的指导下，假设逆境通过培养儿童对家庭和邻居的负面内在表征，增加了儿童对适应问题的易感性。第三，父母的沟通模式被认为是家庭和社区逆境影响的潜在缓冲。与社会化模型一致，预测强调家庭凝聚力和应对效能的父母解释将缓冲儿童免受逆境影响的影响。为了验证所提出的假设，将对两组儿童、他们的主要照顾者和他们的老师进行两项多方法的前瞻性纵向研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this research is to understand the processes underlying associations among forms of family and community adversity on children's mental health. Several primary hypotheses are proposed. First, it is predicted that greater adversity will be associated with greater concurrent and subsequent maladjustment in children; furthermore, neighborhood and family adversity are explored as potentially impacting children's adjustment additively as well as mediationally (community impacting through the family). Second, the mediating processes by which adversity relates to psychopathology will be considered. Guided by theories of attachment and emotional security, it is hypothesized that adversity increases children's vulnerability to adjustment problems by fostering children's negative internal representations of the family and the neighborhood. Third, parental communication patterns are proposed as potential buffers of the impact of family and community adversity. Consistent with socialization models, it is predicted that parental explanations that emphasize family cohesion and coping efficacy will buffer children from the effects of adversity. To test the proposed hypotheses, two multimethod, prospective longitudinal studies will be completed with two groups of children, their primary caregivers, and their teachers.