Housing quality and children's socioemotional health

Abstract

This study examined whether the socioemotional health of children 9-12 years old is related to the physical quality of their residence and neighborhood. The study included 95 children from households with a wide range of incomes in a medium-sized anglophone and a medium-sized francophone Canadian city. Each child's socioemotional health was assessed and the quality of each child's housing was assessed on up to 309 aspects of the residence and immediate neighborhood, based on walk-throughs and interviews with the parents in the residences. The children's socioemotional health, as assessed by their parents, was worse when the physical condition of their residence's interior, exterior, and immediate neighborhood was worse. This relation remained significant after controlling for household income, parental education and mental health status, the child's gender, and time lived in the residence. Furthermore, none of these five factors moderated the relation, evidence for its robustness. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2006.