Neighborhood influences on young children's conduct problems and pro-social behavior: Evidence from an Australian national sample

Mechanisms by which neighborhood socio-economic status influenced children's conduct problems and prosocial behavior were investigated using data from a nationally representative study of 4983 four-to-five-year old children growing up in 257 neighborhoods in Australia. Children's conduct problems were found to be associated with neighborhood socio-economic status, neighborhood safety and neighborhood belonging after accounting for family demographic variables. Further analyses demonstrated that perceptions of neighborhood safety and neighborhood belonging mediated the relationships between neighborhood socioeconomic status and children's conduct problems. Furthermore, the associations of neighborhood safety with conduct problems were mediated by neighborhood belonging. A different pattern of results was evident for pro-social behavior. Neighborhood cleanliness and neighborhood belonging had a direct association with pro-social behavior and no mediated associations were evident. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.