This longitudinal study examined relations between the physical quality of housing, the physical quality of the neighborhood, and their interactive effect in relation to children's mental health and motivation. A total of 341 children – all living in rural or small town neighborhoods -- were followed from elementary age through young adulthood. Approximately 50% of the children lived in low-income households; the other 50% in middle-income homes.
Information collected four times over a 15-year period related to physical quality of housing, physical quality of the neighborhood, child psychological health, and child motivation. Standardized instruments were used to assess housing quality (structural, clutter/cleanliness, indoor climate, hazards, crowding/privacy) and neighborhood quality (street connectivity, density, land use mix; proximate building/sidewalk conditions; neighborhood stability; proximity to nature/amenities). Age-appropriate, self-report measures were used to assess psychological health, addressing both internalizing (e.g., depression/anxiety) and externalizing (e.g., aggression) symptoms. Motivation was assessed via a learned helplessness task. With younger children, this involved an index of learned helplessness appropriate to their age. With older children, the game Traffic was used to assess learned helplessness.
Findings indicated that lower housing quality was associated with poorer psychological health initially and over time. Lower housing quality was also associated with learned helplessness initially, but this association did not hold over time. Neither neighborhood physical quality nor the interaction between housing quality and neighborhood quality related to children's psychological health or motivation.
The overall results suggest that poor housing quality during development is related to less positive psychological health, but poorer neighborhood conditions seem to have little relation to psychological health or motivation among children in elementary school through young adulthood. While this longitudinal study provides evidence of a connection between housing quality and rural children's well-being, the data does not support a cause and effect relationship nor does it address more diverse populations of children. Other research and theory suggest that both the physical quality of housing and neighborhood characteristics influence child development. The researchers call for further study investigating this relationship.
Research Partner