Residential Instability, Family Support, and Parent–Child Relationships Among Ethnically Diverse Urban Families

• Author: Jeanne Brooks‐Gunn,Adam Lippert,Elizabeth M. Riina
• Date: 01 August 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12317
• Published date: 01 August 2016

E M. R Queens College, CUNY

A L University of Colorado–Denver∗

J B-G Columbia University∗∗

Residential Instability, Family Support, and

Parent–Child Relationships Among Ethnically

Diverse Urban Families

From a social disorganization standpoint,

neighborhood residential instability potentially

brings negative consequences to parent–child

relationship qualities, but family social sup-

port and racial/ethnic identity may modify this

association. Using data (n=3,116) from the

Project on Human Development in Chicago

Neighborhoods, this study examines asso-

ciations between neighborhood residential

instability and parent–child warmth and con-

ict, whether family social support moderates

associations between residential instability

and parent–child relationships, and vari-

ation by race/ethnicity. Multilevel models

reveal that residential instability undermines

parent–child relationship qualities, particularly

for non-White individuals. Family support is

a protective factor for families in less stable

neighborhoods and specically buffers the

Family, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences, Queens College,

CUNY,Queens, NY 11367 (eriina@qc.cuny.edu).

∗Department of Sociology, Universityof Colorado–Denver,

1380 Lawrence Street, Suite 420, Denver,CO 80204.

∗∗National Center for Children and Families, Columbia

University,525 West 120th Street, Box 226, New York, NY

10027.

Key Words: family diversity, family relations,neighborhood,

race/ethnicity, social support.

association between neighborhood residential

instability and reduced parent–child warmth.

Among Hispanics, family support mitigates

the association between residential instability

and heightened parent–child conict. Findings

highlight residential instability as a detriment to

parent–child relationships; families in unstable

neighborhoods may benet from family social

support.

Parent–child relationships are fundamental for

healthy child development. Relationships char-

acterized by high warmth and low conict foster

better school performance, higher self-esteem,

lower depression, and fewer behavior prob-

lems among children of diverse racial/ethnic

backgrounds (Amato & Fowler, 2002; Cleve-

land, Gibbons, Gerrard, Pomery, & Brody,

2005; Mogro-Wilson, 2008; Stanik, Riina, &

McHale, 2013; Stormshak, Bierman, McMahon,

& Lengua, 2000). Parenting is determined by

multiple contexts (Belsky, 1984; Bronfenbren-

ner, 1986; Pinderhughes, Nix, Foster, & Jones,

2001); however, extrafamilial factors that exist

in settings such as neighborhoods have been

examined less often. Further, the different risks

and resources that contribute to parent–child

relationships are typically studied in isolation

(Simons, Johnson, Conger, & Lorenz, 1997),

Journal of Marriage and Family 78 (August 2016): 855–870 855

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12317

856 Journal of Marriage and Family

but their effects may be modied by the pres-

ence or absence of factors at the family and

neighborhood levels. Previous research also

suggests that neighborhoods confer different

risks and resources to families on the basis of

race/ethnicity (Zambrana, 2011), but few studies

have examined the intersection of neighborhood

and family contexts for parenting in different

racial/ethnic groups.

Residential instability is a structural fea-

ture of neighborhoods marked by high rates

of residential turnover and low percentages of

family-owned homes (Sampson, Morenoff, &

Earls, 1999). We expect that families living

in neighborhoods characterized by a high rate

of residential instability will have lower levels

of parent–child warmth and higher levels of

parent–child conict than families living in

more stable areas. This is because residential

instability can cause concern among parents

over unknown individuals in the neighborhood

(Timperio, Crawford, Telford, & Salmon, 2004;

Valentine & McKendrick, 1997), hamper social

capital and informal social control of unwanted

behaviors in the community (Sampson et al.,

1999; Sampson, Raudenbush, & Earls, 1997),

and limit parents’ abilities to form supportive

relationships with neighbors unrelated to them

(Sampson, 2003).

As a result of the limited social resources in

unstable neighborhoods, support from family

members could take on special salience to

the lives of parents. Accordingly, we further

expect that the relationship between residential

instability and parent–child relationship quality

will be less pronounced for families with high

levels of family-based social support. Ample

research shows that social support is associated

with positive parent–child relationship qualities

(Ceballo & McLoyd, 2002; Crnic, Greenberg,

Robinson, & Ragozin, 1984; Green, Furrer, &

McAllister, 2007; Izzo, Weiss, Shanahan, &

Rodriguez-Brown, 2000; Kotchick, Dorsey, &

Heller, 2005; Taylor & Roberts, 1995), espe-

cially support provided by family members

(e.g., Kotchick et al., 2005; Taylor & Roberts,

1995). According to what we term a compen-

satory model, we expect that family-provided

social support may buffer parent–child relation-

ships against the negative effects of residential

instability. Drawing upon past research showing

stronger associations between social support

and parent–child relationship quality among

Black and Hispanic families, we also expect

race/ethnicity to modify the mutual links

among residential instability, social support, and

parent–child relationship quality.

Using data from the Project on Human Devel-

opment in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN),

we address three main research questions: Do

families living in neighborhoods marked by high

residential turnover present lower parent–child

warmth and higher parent–child conict than

families in more stable neighborhoods? Do

high levels of familial social support moderate

these associations? Are these patterns different

for Hispanic or Black families as compared to

non-Hispanic White families? By addressing

these questions, this study sheds light on how

residential instability and social support are

implicated in parent–child relationships among

a diverse group of urban families.

B

Residential Instability and Parent–Child

Relationships

Consistent declines in the rate of home owner-

ship have occurred since the Great Recession,

falling 5% between 2005 and 2014 (Callis &

Kresin, 2015). As a consequence, increasing

shares of households—both with and without

children—are turning to renting instead of own-

ing their homes (Kingsley, Jordan, & Traynor

2012). Because renter-dominated neighbor-

hoods tend to experience greater residential

turnover than owner-dominated neighbor-

hoods, the growing ratio of renters to home-

owners suggests that residential instability

may become more normative across American

neighborhoods.

Residential instability has long been identi-

ed as a generally undesirable neighborhood

characteristic (Kasarda & Janowitz, 1974;

Sampson & Groves, 1989; Shaw & McKay,

1942). With respect to family outcomes, resi-

dential instability has been implicated in past

research that examines the community-level cor-

relates of parent–child relationship quality. For

instance, Coulton, Korbin, Su, and Chow (1995)

found that the prevalence of child maltreatment

is higher with increasing levels of residential

instability. Several mechanisms have been pro-

posed to explain the possible links between

residential instability and poor parent–child

relationship quality, which we describe in this

section.