Publication Date

2023

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Shelleby, Elizabeth C.

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

Housing instability is associated with numerous poor child outcomes in domains such as behavioral problems, emotional problems, and academic achievement. The impacts of housing instability on child outcomes are typically investigated in the context of sociodemographic risk; however, exploring the role of protective factors (e.g., family routines, parental warmth) in these contexts allows for a more thorough understanding of the effect of housing instability and how potential negative outcomes might be mitigated. The present study further explored the relation between early housing instability and child behavioral, emotional, and academic outcomes in middle-childhood in addition to the potential moderating role of family routines and parental warmth in early childhood. Longitudinal data of 4,898 families from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) were used to explore these associations. Using structural equation modeling, the present analyses indicated that when controlling for key sociodemographic covariates, housing instability in early childhood was not related to child outcomes at age 9 years. Greater parental warmth at child age 5 years was significantly associated with lower levels of behavioral and emotional problems at age 9 years; higher levels of parental warmth and family routines at child age 5 years were significantly associated with higher levels of academic achievement at age 9 years. Models using the latent moderated structural equations (LMS) method suggested that neither family routines nor parental warmth significantly moderated the longitudinal association between housing instability and middle-childhood outcomes, though post-hoc analyses indicated that greater parental warmth attenuates the relation between moving one to two times and later child behavioral problems. Family routines and parental warmth emerged as significant promotive factors for later childhood outcomes. Further implications are discussed below.

Extent

154 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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