GNU oSIP

collective!efficacy!(Sampson!et!al.,!2002).!Collective!norms!were!shown!to!affect!parenting! practices!(Frech!and!Kimbro,!2011).!Thus,!it!can!be!hypothesised!that!neighbourhoods!are! spaces!that!shape!parent’s!behaviour.!! Living!in!a!neighbourhood!that!is!perceived!to!be!safe,!friendly!and!well!looked!after!will! generate!a!sense!of!security!and!enhance!emotional!wellNbeing.!Experiencing!disorder!and! lack!of!safety!might!potentially!lead!to!increased!stress!levels!and!symptoms!of!depression.! Some!studies!found!that!children’s!own!perceptions!of!their!neighbourhood!were!related! to! their! emotional! wellNbeing! and! behaviour! (Shumow! et! al.,! 1998;! Guerra! et! al.,! 2003;! Meltzer! et! al.,! 2007;! Eriksson! et! al.,! 2012).! Further,! there! is! evidence! in! the! reviewed! literature! that! mothers! living! in! poor! neighbourhoods! which! are! perceived! as! unsafe! are! disproportionately!affected!by!psychological!distress!(Cutrona!et!al.,!2000;!Hill!and!HermanN Stahl,!2002;!Barnes!et!al.,!2010).!! 2. Relationships:,Expanding,the,family,stress,model, Following!from!the!above,!another!hypothesis!is!that!children!are!affected!also!indirectly!by! neighbourhood!stressors!via!the!psychological!health!of!their!mothers,!which!in!turn!might! lead!to!less!favourable!parenting!practices.!! While!the!here!reviewed!research!is!inconsistent!regarding!pathways!via!maternal!distress! and! parenting! practices,! it! has! been! shown! elsewhere! that! maternal! depression! and! parenting! behaviour! are! strongly! related! especially! with! regards! to! negative! maternal! behaviour! (Lovejoy! et! al.,! 2000).! There! is! also! strong! evidence! that! chronic! maternal! depression!has!negative!effects!on!children's!cognitive!performance!(Hay!and!Kumar,!1995;! Sharp!et!al.,!1995;!Petterson!and!Albers,!2001;!Cornish!et!al.,!2005),!and!behaviour!(Alpern! and!LyonsNRuth,!1993;!Beck,!1999).!Recent!studies!using!data!from!the!Millennium!Cohort! Study!also!demonstrated!links!between!maternal!depression!and!behavioural!problems!in! children!at!age!three,!and!with!both!cognitive!and!social!development!at!age!five,!which! were! mediated! in! part! by! parenting! practices! and! the! quality! of! the! motherNchild! relationship!(Kiernan!and!Huerta,!2008;!Mensah!and!Kiernan,!2009).!!

The! family! stress! model! (Figure! 2N2),! which! has! been! tested! and! validated! in! different! populations,! describes! the! pathways! between! material! disadvantage,! maternal! mental! health,! parenting! practices! and! child! outcomes! (Conger! et! al.,! 1994;! Linver,! BrooksNGunn! and!Kohen,!2002).!Here,!the!family!stress!model!is!expanded!to!incorporate!stressors!at!the! neighbourhood! level! (Figure! 2N3).! It! is! hypothesised! that! the! choices! a! family! is! able! to!

make! with! respect! to! their! neighbourhood! will! be! determined! by! their! income,! while! neighbourhood!social!processes!will!affect!maternal!emotional!health!and!in!turn!her!ability! to!parent,!eventually!influencing!children’s!social!and!cognitive!development.! ! Figure,2J2,,,The,family,stress,model1, ! , Figure,2J3,,,An,expanded,family,stress,model,incorporating,neighbourhood,social,processes1, , , Maternal( emo+onal( distress( Parental( investment( Paren+ng( prac+ces( Family(income/ Poverty(( Child( developmental( outcome( Control( ba;ery( Maternal( emo+onal( distress( Parental( investment( Paren+ng( prac+ces( Family(income/ Poverty(( Child( developmental( outcome( Control( ba;ery( Neighbourhood( social(processes(

3. Schools,,

The!third!hypothesis!is!that!schools!play!a!substantial!role!for!children’s!cognitive!as!well!as! socioNemotional! development.! Schools! can! be! thought! of! as! part! of! the! neighbourhood! effect,! as! children’s! place! of! residence! will! determine! school! choices! for! most.! The! contribution!of!schools!has!been!considered!in!very!few!of!the!reviewed!studies,!but!the! results! suggest! that! the! school! environment! might! be! more! important! for! cognitive! outcomes!than!other!neighbourhood!factors!(Leckie,!2009;!Rasbash!et!al.,!2010).!Especially! compelling!are!the!findings!on!the!Harlem!Children’s!Zone!schools!which!were!tailored!to! the! needs! of! disadvantaged! children! and! produced! very! good! results! (Dobbie! and! Fryer,! 2011).! The! consistent! finding! among! the! reviewed! studies! that! neighbourhood! structural! advantage! measured! via! neighbourhood! income! is! related! to! better! cognitive! outcomes! might!also!point!towards!schools!as!the!mediating!factor!in!these!relationships.!!

Only! one! study! had! measured! a! school! aspect! (maternal! perception! of! school! quality)! in! relation! to! child! behaviour! and! found! an! independent! association! between! the! two! (KowaleskiNJones,! 2000).! It! is! hypothesised! that! schools! play! a! role! also! for! children’s! emotional!wellNbeing!and!behaviour.!

2.5 Summary,

Bronfenbrenner’s! ecological! model! of! human! development! postulates! that! early! experiences! are! shaped! by! interactions! with! the! immediate! as! well! as! the! wider! environment,!and!that!the!different!spheres!of!influence!are!interrelated,!leading!to!direct! and!indirect!effects.!The!review!of!the!literature!on!neighbourhoods!and!children’s!socioN emotional!and!cognitive!development!has!largely!supported!this!view.!While!the!family!as! the! most! direct! influence! is! undoubtedly! the! most! important! determinant! of! healthy! development,!this!review!found!a!large!body!of!research!showing!that!children’s!lives!are! influenced! also! by! where! they! live.! However,! there! was! also! some! conflicting! evidence! regarding! the! role! of! neighbourhood! deprivation! for! children’s! socioNemotional!

development,!as!well!as!regarding!the!potential!mechanisms!at!play.!!

Three! influential! reviews! have! outlined! the! possible! pathways! through! which! neighbourhood! effects! are! thought! to! work:! norms! and! collective! efficacy,! relationships! and!institutional!resources.!The!research!published!since!1998!lends!empirical!support!to! all! of! these,! albeit! to! differing! degrees.! The! role! of! social! processes! for! children’s! socioN emotional! development! has! been! generally! supported,! however! there! is! considerable! uncertainty! regarding! a! mediating! role! of! maternal! mental! health! and! parenting,! as! few! studies! attempted! to! disentangle! mediation! and! confounding.! For! cognitive! outcomes,! studies! have! mainly! looked! at! the! effects! of! neighbourhood! disadvantage! and! affluence,! largely! supporting! independent! relationships! especially! for! measures! of! affluence.! However,!the!associations!with!maternal!mental!health!and!parenting!are!even!less!clear! for!children’s!cognitive!skills.!!

The! availability! and! quality! of! institutional! resources! featured! rarely! in! the! reviewed! literature,!but!there!is!some!emerging!evidence!that!school!choice!might!play!an!important! role! for! children’s! cognitive! development.! Only! two! studies! have! considered! neighbourhoods! and! schools! simultaneously,! and! together! with! the! findings! from! experimental!studies,!the!results!point!towards!a!promising!route!for!further!research.!! The! main! limitations! of! the! reviewed! studies! are! data! constraints! regarding! available! covariates,! issues! with! sameNsource! bias! and! for! some,! the! definition! of! neighbourhood! boundaries.!Also,!few!studies!have!so!far!been!conducted!on!UK!data,!and!it!needs!to!be! tested!whether!the!findings!from!other!countries!hold!true!in!the!UK!context.!

To!summarise!the!main!gaps!in!current!knowledge,!one!unresolved!question!is!the!role!of! maternal! mental! health,! as! findings! have! so! far! been! inconsistent.! What! is! missing! are! studies! which! examine! the! whole! pathway! from! neighbourhood! exposure! via! maternal! mental!health!and!parenting!to!child!outcomes.!

Another! question! which! has! been! understudied! is! the! role! of! institutional! resources,! in! particular! the! contribution! of! schools! to! the! neighbourhood! effect.! The! two! important! studies! which! have! estimated! the! variability! in! cognitive! outcomes! between! neighbourhoods! and! schools! had! only! limited! access! to! potential! confounding! variables! (Leckie,!2009;!Rasbash!et!al.,!2010).!And,!neighbourhoods!and!schools!have!not!yet!been! examined!simultaneously!in!relation!to!children’s!emotional!wellNbeing!and!behaviour.! Further,! while! there! is! a! general! assumption! that! neighbourhoods! might! affect! boys! and! girls!differently,!there!is!currently!no!consensus!how!potential!effects!play!out!in!relation!to! gender.!

This! thesis! attempts! to! address! these! questions.! The! full! project! aims! and! objectives! are! outlined!in!the!following!chapter.!

Chapter(3!