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Area and family effects on the psychopathology of the millennium cohort study children and their older siblings

Area and family effects on the psychopathology of the millennium cohort study children and their older siblings
Area and family effects on the psychopathology of the millennium cohort study children and their older siblings
Background:? To model and compare contextual (area and family) effects on the psychopathology of children nested in families nested in areas.

Method:? Data from the first two sweeps of the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study were used. The final study sample was 9,630 children clustered in 6,052 families clustered in 1,681 Lower-layer Super Output Areas. The mean age of the children at Sweep 2 was 4.96 (SD = 2.76) years. Contextual risk was measured at area level with the Index of Multiple Deprivation (Sweep 1), and at family level with the number of proximal (Sweep 2) and distal (Sweep 1) adverse life events experienced. Psychopathology was measured at Sweep 2 with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

Results:? At baseline, both proximal and distal family risk and area risk predicted broad psychopathology, although the most parsimonious was the proximal family risk model, and both the family-level and the area-level variability were significant. The area risk/broad psychopathology association remained significant even when family risk was controlled, but not when family socioeconomic status was controlled. The full model added parenting and paternal and maternal psychopathology. When parental qualifications were excluded from the family-level contextual controls the effect of area risk remained significant on both externalizing and internalizing psychopathology.

Conclusions:? The effect of area on child psychopathology operated via the socioeconomic characteristics of the child’s family, not just the adverse characteristics of the neighbors. Multiple family risk predicted child psychopathology directly and independently, and not because it was associated with family socioeconomic status. Family socioeconomic status explained the association between area risk and broad psychopathology.
contextual risk, multilevel models, multivariate multilevel models, sibling data
0021-9630
152-161
Flouri, Eirini
551bd46e-a001-4f0a-a6cc-8e4d0a69442b
Tzavidis, Nikos
431ec55d-c147-466d-9c65-0f377b0c1f6a
Kallis, Constantinos
64f6a65e-1d82-46c0-a63a-41ddc6f03853
Flouri, Eirini
551bd46e-a001-4f0a-a6cc-8e4d0a69442b
Tzavidis, Nikos
431ec55d-c147-466d-9c65-0f377b0c1f6a
Kallis, Constantinos
64f6a65e-1d82-46c0-a63a-41ddc6f03853

Flouri, Eirini, Tzavidis, Nikos and Kallis, Constantinos (2010) Area and family effects on the psychopathology of the millennium cohort study children and their older siblings. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51 (2), 152-161. (doi:10.1111/(ISSN)1469-7610). (PMID:19804382)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background:? To model and compare contextual (area and family) effects on the psychopathology of children nested in families nested in areas.

Method:? Data from the first two sweeps of the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study were used. The final study sample was 9,630 children clustered in 6,052 families clustered in 1,681 Lower-layer Super Output Areas. The mean age of the children at Sweep 2 was 4.96 (SD = 2.76) years. Contextual risk was measured at area level with the Index of Multiple Deprivation (Sweep 1), and at family level with the number of proximal (Sweep 2) and distal (Sweep 1) adverse life events experienced. Psychopathology was measured at Sweep 2 with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

Results:? At baseline, both proximal and distal family risk and area risk predicted broad psychopathology, although the most parsimonious was the proximal family risk model, and both the family-level and the area-level variability were significant. The area risk/broad psychopathology association remained significant even when family risk was controlled, but not when family socioeconomic status was controlled. The full model added parenting and paternal and maternal psychopathology. When parental qualifications were excluded from the family-level contextual controls the effect of area risk remained significant on both externalizing and internalizing psychopathology.

Conclusions:? The effect of area on child psychopathology operated via the socioeconomic characteristics of the child’s family, not just the adverse characteristics of the neighbors. Multiple family risk predicted child psychopathology directly and independently, and not because it was associated with family socioeconomic status. Family socioeconomic status explained the association between area risk and broad psychopathology.

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More information

Published date: February 2010
Keywords: contextual risk, multilevel models, multivariate multilevel models, sibling data

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 181893
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/181893
ISSN: 0021-9630
PURE UUID: 0dcc2aa5-20c7-4d7a-9c12-f8bc6e2211f0
ORCID for Nikos Tzavidis: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8413-8095

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Date deposited: 19 Apr 2011 14:44
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:11

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Contributors

Author: Eirini Flouri
Author: Nikos Tzavidis ORCID iD
Author: Constantinos Kallis

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