Procesamiento Integrado de Niveles

Assuming! that! neighbourhood! effects! on! cognitive! development! operate! partly! through! schools! and! peer! influences,! and! that! younger! children! are! more! supervised! and! less! exposed! to! the! neighbourhood! environment,! such! effects! would! be! expected! to! be! stronger! for! older! children.! Findings! regarding! potential! interactions! by! child! age! have! however!been!mixed.!McCulloch!and!Joshi!(2001)!analysed!data!from!4N18!year!olds!and! found!small!significant!associations!between!neighbourhood!deprivation!and!cognitive!test! scores! only! for! children! aged! four! and! five,! the! age! of! transition! to! school.! Sastry! and! Pebley!(2010)!on!the!other!hand,!using!American!data!from!children!aged!3N17,!reported! positive! associations! between! median! neighbourhood! income! and! cognitive! skills! for! all! ages,!but!the!association!was!even!stronger!for!children!older!than!eight.!The!evidence!for! time!lags!which!is!discussed!in!detail!below!also!suggests!that!neighbourhood!effects!might! emerge!at!older!ages!(Lloyd!and!Hertzman,!2010;!Lloyd!et!al.,!2010).!!

Interactions! with! other! child! and! family! variables! such! as! child! gender! or! family! socioN economic!status!were!not!reported!by!any!of!the!reviewed!studies.!

2.2.3.7 Time,lags,/,length,of,residence,

It! seems! reasonable! to! assume! that! the! length! and! possibly! the! timing! of! exposure! to! certain!neighbourhood!characteristics!influence!the!emergence!of!potential!effects.!!

López!Turley!(2003)!reported!that!the!association!between!median!neighbourhood!income! and!cognitive!test!scores!was!statistically!significant!only!for!children!who!had!lived!in!their! neighbourhood!for!at!least!three!years.!The!study!by!Sampson!et!al.!(2008)!found!evidence! for! time! lags:! in! causal! effects! models,! concentrated! disadvantage! experienced! 2N3! years! earlier! was! associated! with! markedly! reduced! verbal! ability! in! 6N12! year! old! African! American!children,!while!concurrent!neighbourhood!disadvantage!had!no!significant!effect.! Similarly,! the! analysis! of! Canadian! data! on! children! followed! from! kindergarten! (age! 4N5)! through! to! grade! 7! (age! 12N13)! showed! no! crossNsectional! relationship! between! median! neighbourhood! income! and! cognitive! outcomes! at! kindergarten! age,! but! an! association! between! neighbourhood! advantage/disadvantage! measured! at! kindergarten! age! and!

educational!achievement!both!at!grade!4!and!grade!7!assessments!(Lloyd!and!Hertzman,! 2010;!Lloyd!et!al.,!2010).!A!link!between!neighbourhood!advantage!at!ages!4N5!and!higher! learning!competencies!at!ages!8N9!was!also!found!among!Australian!children!(Sanson!et!al.,! 2011).!!

Leckie! (2009)! used! sophisticated! statistical! methods! to! simultaneously! model! complex! mobility! of! pupils! between! neighbourhoods! and! schools.! He! argued! that! potential! neighbourhood!effects!on!cognitive!test!scores!would!be!smaller!the!shorter!the!amount!of! time! spent! in! a! given! neighbourhood,! and! that! models! which! allow! for! movements! between!neighbourhoods!need!to!accommodate!this!or!otherwise!risk!downward!biases!in! estimates!of!betweenNneighbourhood!variance.!Using!crossNclassified!multiple!membership! models,!he!applied!weights!to!each!neighbourhood!according!to!the!length!of!time!a!pupil! had!lived!there.!Incorporating!the!multiple!membership!element!into!the!models!improved! model!fit!and!increased!the!estimated!betweenNneighbourhood!variability.!

Looking! at! the! factor! time! in! a! wider! sense,! Sharkey! and! Elwert! (2011)! were! able! to! demonstrate!multigenerational!neighbourhood!effects.!Their!recent!research!on!US!parents! and! children! revealed! strong! negative! effects! on! children’s! cognitive! skills! if! a! family! had! lived!in!high!poverty!neighbourhoods!over!two!consecutive!generations.!

2.2.3.8 Evidence,of,mediation,via,maternal,mental,health,and,parenting,practices, Several! studies! had! tested! whether! the! association! between! neighbourhood! socioN economic! status! and! children’s! cognitive! outcomes! was! mediated! via! maternal! mental! health!or!parenting!practices,!with!mixed!results.!!

A! mediating! role! for! parenting! practices! and! the! home! environment! was! supported! for! children!of!different!age!groups!by!four!studies!(Klebanov!et!al.,!1998;!Kohen!et!al.,!2008;! Dupere! et! al.,! 2010;! Burchinal! et! al.,! 2011),! while! five! studies! did! not! find! evidence! for! mediation! (McCulloch! and! Joshi,! 2001;! Caughy! and! O'Campo,! 2006;! McCulloch,! 2006;! Greenman!et!al.,!2011;!Sanson!et!al.,!2011).!!

For! maternal! mental! health,! mediation! was! not! supported! by! any! of! the! here! reviewed! research,! having! been! tested! and! rejected! by! four! studies! (Dupere! et! al.,! 2010;! VadenN Kiernan!et!al.,!2010;!Burchinal!et!al.,!2011;!Sanson!et!al.,!2011).!

2.2.4 Neighbourhood,effects,on,maternal,mental,health,and,parenting,

One!of!the!central!hypotheses!of!this!study!is!that!maternal!mental!health!and!parenting! practices!are!on!the!pathway!between!neighbourhood!characteristics!and!children’s!socioN emotional! and! cognitive! outcomes.! A! role! for! neighbourhood! characteristics! in! the! development! of! adult! depressive! symptoms! was! generally! supported! by! a! recent! review! (Mair,! DiezNRoux! and! Galea,! 2008).! Reviewed! here! is! a! small! body! of! literature! which! explicitly! examined! whether! neighbourhood! characteristics! affect! the! psychological! wellN being! of! mothers,! their! ability! to! provide! a! nurturing! home! environment! and! other! parenting! strategies! such! as! the! monitoring! of! children’s! activities.! The! literature! search! identified! 13! studies:! four! studies! on! aspects! of! maternal! mental! health,! six! studies! on! parenting!behaviour!and!three!studies!which!included!both!outcomes.!!!! 2.2.4.1 Neighbourhood,effects,on,maternal,mental,health, A!possible!link!between!maternal!mental!health!and!neighbourhood!deprivation!had!been! examined!by!four!studies,!two!of!which!reported!a!statistically!significant!association!over! and!above!individualNlevel!factors!(Mulvaney!and!Kendrick,!2005;!Barnes!et!al.,!2010),!while! two!found!no!independent!relationship!(Klebanov!et!al.,!1994;!Cutrona!et!al.,!2000).! Mother’s!perceptions!of!neighbourhood!physical!and!social!disorder!and!lack!of!safety!were! however! consistently! related! to! symptoms! of! depression! (Hill! and! HermanNStahl,! 2002;! ChristieNMizell,!Steelman!and!Stewart,!2003;!Kotchick,!Dorsey!and!Heller,!2005;!Barnes!et! al.,!2010).!Mulvaney!and!Kendrick!(2005)!showed!that!living!in!an!area!of!low!social!capital! increased!the!risk!of!depressive!symptoms,!and!that!the!association!was!either!mediated!or! confounded!by!selfNreported!stress.!While!sameNsource!bias!might!be!a!concern!with!regard! to! these! findings,! results! were! similar! if! the! exposure! was! measured! via! aggregated! responses!or!interviewer!ratings!(Cutrona!et!al.,!2000;!Hill!and!HermanNStahl,!2002;!Barnes! et!al.,!2010).!

2.2.4.2 Neighbourhood,effects,on,parenting,and,the,home,environment,

The!parenting!outcomes!that!have!been!studied!in!relation!to!neighbourhood!factors!can! be! grouped! into! two! categories:! first,! measures! of! the! motherNchild! relationship! such! as! maternal!warmth,!the!use!of!harsh!parenting!practices!and!strict!monitoring;!and!second,! measures!of!the!home!learning!environment!and!the!provision!of!educational!activities.!!

MotherGchild'relationship'

Neighbourhood! poverty! was! associated! with! less! maternal! warmth! in! two! smaller! US! studies! (Klebanov! et! al.,! 1994;! Pinderhughes! et! al.,! 2001),! but! not! with! parenting! stress! after! adjusting! for! child! and! family! characteristics! in! a! recent! large! study! from! the! Netherlands!(Spijkers,!Jansen!and!Reijneveld,!2012).!!

Earlier!research!suggested!that!parents!living!in!“highNrisk”!neighbourhoods!employ!coping! strategies! such! as! high! levels! of! monitoring! and! harsher! discipline! in! an! effort! to! protect! their! children! (Leventhal! and! BrooksNGunn,! 2000).! Among! the! studies! reviewed! here,! perceived! danger! was! found! to! be! associated! with! higher! levels! of! parental! monitoring! (Jones!et!al.,!2005),!less!consistent!discipline!(Pinderhughes!et!al.,!2001;!Hill!and!HermanN Stahl,!2002)!and!less!maternal!warmth!(Pinderhughes!et!al.,!2001),!but!not!with!harsher!or! more! punitive! parenting! (Pinderhughes! et! al.,! 2001;! Ceballo! and! McLoyd,! 2002).! Two! studies!showed!that!the!associations!between!perceived!neighbourhood!stress!and!lack!of! safety!on!the!one!hand!and!poorer!motherNchild!relationships!on!the!other!were!mediated! via!maternal!psychological!distress!(Hill!and!HermanNStahl,!2002;!Kotchick!et!al.,!2005).!!!

Activities'and'home'learning'environment'

Frech! and! Kimbro! (2011)! reported! a! link! between! neighbourhood! collective! efficacy! and! more! time! investment! in! motherNchild! activities! such! as! outings! and! reading,! while! neighbourhood! socioNeconomic! disadvantage! was! unrelated! to! parenting! activities.! Neighbourhood!disadvantage!was!however!associated!with!educational!parenting!practices! in!the!study!by!Greenman,!Bodovski!and!Reed!(2011),!and!with!a!more!negative!physical! home! environment! in! the! study! by! Klebanov! et! al.! (1994).! None! of! these! studies! found! evidence!for!mediation!via!maternal!depression.!!

Taken!together!with!the!findings!on!mediation!via!maternal!mental!health!and!parenting!in! the! studies! on! child! socioNemotional! and! cognitive! outcomes,! the! picture! is! mixed.! It! appears! that! perceptions! of! neighbourhood! social! processes! were! more! consistently! related!to!maternal!mental!health!than!measures!of!structural!disadvantage.!However!it!is! not! clear! whether! neighbourhood! effects! on! mothers’! psychological! wellNbeing! translate! into!less!favourable!parenting!practices.!

2.2.5 Main,findings,and,limitations,of,past,research,

The! literature! that! was! published! on! neighbourhoods! and! children’s! socioNemotional! and! cognitive!development!since!1998!is!still!dominated!by!American!research.!Only!few!studies! came!from!the!UK,!making!generalisations!for!the!UK!context!difficult.!!

Neighbourhood'deprivation'and'affluence'

Regarding!the!link!between!neighbourhood!deprivation!and!socioNemotional!development,! only! 15! out! of! the! 24! here! reviewed! studies! which! had! tested! the! association! found! evidence! of! independent! relationships,! which! is! in! contrast! to! the! overwhelmingly! supportive!results!reported!in!earlier!reviews.!Neighbourhood!affluence!on!the!other!hand! was! consistently! related! to! better! behavioural! and! emotional! outcomes! over! and! above! family!level!factors.!For!cognitive!outcomes,!findings!were!more!homogeneous,!with!most! of! the! studies! on! neighbourhood! deprivation!and! all! studies!on!neighbourhood!affluence! being!supportive!of!independent!relationships.!Researchers!do!however!not!contend!that!it! is!neighbourhood!deprivation!or!affluence!per!se!that!is!important,!rather!these!are!likely! to!be!a!proxy!for!something!else!which!could!not!be!measured!directly!and!which!is!yet!to! be! determined! (DiezNRoux,! 2004).! As! has! been! argued! in! a! recent! article,! to! take! neighbourhood! research! forward! it! is! important! to! uncover! what! this! “black! box”! of! neighbourhood! effects! contains,! by! spelling! out! and! testing! specific! causal! mechanisms! (van!Ham!and!Manley,!2012).!!

Neighbourhood'social'processes'

Neighbourhood! social! processes! were! mainly! studied! in! relation! to! socioNemotional! outcomes,! and! significant! associations! were! found! by! the! majority! of! studies.! However,! studies! which! had! used! independent! sources! of! information! on! the! neighbourhood! exposure! as! opposed! to! maternal! perceptions! appeared! to! be! somewhat! more! likely! to! yield! negative! results.! There! was! also! some! evidence! for! social! processes! mediating! the! relationship!between!deprivation!and!children’s!socioNemotional!development.!Studies!on! associations! between! neighbourhood! social! processes! and! cognitive! outcomes! produced! mixed!findings!and!were!too!few!to!draw!any!conclusions.!

Institutional'resources'

Institutional!resources!are!generally!understudied.!Few!studies!on!cognitive!outcomes!have! simultaneously! examined! neighbourhoods! and! schools,! and! those! that! did! agreed! on! a! potentially! important! role! for! the! school! environment.! Among! the! studies! on! socioN emotional!outcomes,!the!school!context!was!almost!completely!absent.!!

Findings'from'experimental'designs'

The! findings! from! two! experimental! residential! mobility! programmes! from! the! US,! the! Moving!To!Opportunity!and!Yonkers!projects,!were!on!the!whole!rather!disappointing.!For! the! MTO,! benefits! were! reported! for! adolescent! girls! regarding! their! mental! health,! but! these!were!offset!by!detrimental!effects!on!adolescent!boys’!problem!behaviour.!Similarly,! the! children! whose! families! moved! to! better! neighbourhoods! within! the! Yonkers! project! experienced! on! average! more! emotional! and! behaviour! problems! than! those! whose! families! did! not! win! the! opportunity! to! move.! Neither! programme! had! any! effects! on! children! and! youth! educational! outcomes.! However,! interesting! and! encouraging! results! were!reported!for!an!ambitious!school!project!in!Harlem,!New!York.!

The'role'of'maternal'mental'health'and'parenting'

The! evidence! regarding! mediation! of! neighbourhood! effects! via! maternal! health! and! parenting! is! very! mixed.! On! the! one! hand,! there! are! studies! showing! that! maternal! neighbourhood!perceptions!contribute!to!mothers’!psychological!distress,!on!the!other!are! several!papers!which!had!to!reject!the!hypothesis!of!maternal!mental!health!being!on!the! pathway! between! neighbourhood! factors! and! child! outcomes.! All! studies! that! were! supportive! of! mediation! pertained! to! socioNemotional! outcomes,! however! for! some! of! these!studies!sameNsource!bias!might!have!been!a!potential!problem.!

There! is! also! no! consensus! among! studies! regarding! the! role! of! parenting! practices,! with! almost!equal!proportions!of!supportive!and!unsupportive!results.!There!is!some!evidence! for! maternal! neighbourhood! perceptions! leading! to! poorer! motherNchild! relationships! via! maternal! depression! and! subsequently! to! poorer! behavioural! outcomes! (Kohen! et! al.,! 2008),! but! too! few! studies! had! examined! this! entire! pathway.! Maternal! depressive! symptoms!were!not!found!to!mediate!associations!between!neighbourhood!factors!and!the! home! learning! environment,! but! again! the! number! of! studies! which! tested! these!

Variations'in'neighbourhood'effects'by'gender''

Several! studies! showed! that! associations! with! socioNemotional! outcomes! varied! by! child! gender,! however! a! clear! pattern! did! not! emerge.! Boys! are! perhaps! more! susceptible! to! neighbourhood!factors!in!relation!to!externalising!behaviour.!No!gender!differences!were! reported!for!cognitive!outcomes.!

The'factor'time''

Time! lags! in! the! emergence! of! neighbourhood! effects! were! reported! by! some! studies,! pointing!to!the!relevance!of!either!length!of!exposure!to!neighbourhood!characteristics!or! the! existence! of! sensitive! periods! when! neighbourhood! factors! are! important,! with! consequences!becoming!manifest!several!years!later.!