Structural model of the effects of poverty on externalizing and internalizing behaviors of four- to five-year-old children

Mother-child data of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were used to identify the parenting practices that mediate relations between persistent, recent, and transitional poverty and the externalizing and internalizing behaviors of children four to five years old. Persistent poverty is associated with a lower-quality physical home environment, which is linked to children's internalizing behaviors. Lower-quality physical environment, maternal emotional unresponsiveness, and fewer stimulating experiences contribute significantly to the effect of recent poverty on internalizing behaviors. Lower-quality physical environment and fewer stimulating experiences mediate the relation between recent poverty and externalizing behaviors. Contrary to hypothesized relations, transitional poverty predicts fewer externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Key words: externalizing behaviors; internalizing behaviors; parenting practices; poverty Children who live in economically disadvantaged families are more likely to experience socioemotional problems, such as impaired peer relations, low self-esteem, lower levels sociability and initiative, and classroom externalizing, and internalizing behavior problems, than children who live in families with greater financial resources (Bolger, Patterson, Thompson, & Kupersmidt, 1995; Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, & Klebanov, 1994; Hanson, McLanahan, & Thomson, 1997; Patterson, Kupersmidt, & Vaden, 1990). Classifying descriptions of childhood socioemotional problems into a child's tendency to either externalize or internalize emotions and behaviors is a common practice in child development research (Campbell, 1995; Cicchetti & Toth, 1991). Externalizing problems are characterized by aggression, hyperactivity, and noncompliance, whereas internalizing behaviors include problems such as withdrawal, depression, and anxiety. (Campbell, 1995). Externalizing and internalizing behaviors that occur early in a child's life disrupt normal peer relations; externalizing behaviors tend to be stable over time and predict poor school performance and delinquency (Cicchetti & Toth, 1991; Patterson, DeBaryshe, & Ramsey, 1989). In 1997 almost 20 percent of U.S. children lived in poverty (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1998), suggesting that a significant proportion of children are at higher risk of experiencing socioemotional problems. Yearly poverty rates, however, do not fully capture the dimensions of economic deprivation in children's lives. Ashworth, Hill, and Walker (1994) estimated that 38 percent of children are poor during some time in childhood, 5 percent of children are persistently poor, and 16 percent experience multiple transitions in and out of poverty. These studies have prompted research on two related questions: (1) Do differences in parenting practices of poor and nonpoor parents account for or mediate the effects of poverty on children's socioemotional problems? (2) Do different measures of poverty, such as persistent or recent, differentially affect children's behavior problems or the parenting practices that relate economic hardship to children's socioemotional adjustment? The purpose of this research was to identify parenting practices that mediate relations among persistent, recent, or transitional poverty and the externalizing and internalizing behaviors of four- to five-year-old children. A substantial body of literature indicates that parents who are warm and responsive, set appropriate limits, are involved with their children, and use consistent but not harsh disciplinary practices, promote children's socioemotional adjustment (see Campbell, 1995, for a review of this literature). Studies on small, rural samples of young adolescents suggest that parental adjustments to stressors associated with current economic hardship disrupt effective parenting behaviors. Parental economic stress leads to inconsistent and harsh discipline, negative emotional affect, and uninvolved parenting, all of which are linked to adolescent socioemotional problems (Brody et al. …