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Author: Chiang, Chien-jen
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Chiang, Chien-jen
Sun, Sicong
Hudson, Darrell L.
Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Association between Parental Wealth and Child Behavioral Problems
Presented: Phoenix AZ, Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Conference, January 2023.
Also: https://sswr.confex.com/sswr/2023/webprogram/Paper50674.html
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR)
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Debt/Borrowing; Depression (see also CESD); Ethnic Differences; Net Worth; Parental Influences; Racial Differences; Wealth

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Background/Purpose: Racial/ethnic wealth inequities are well documented and historically entrenched. Wealth plays a pivotal role in determining the social context in which children live as wealth provides access to neighborhoods with greater levels and quality of resources such as school quality indicators and perceptions of neighborhood safety. Whereas the existing literature is replete with studies that have examined the association between wealth and child development outcomes, the goal of this study is to examine the association between parental wealth and child behavior problems across race/ethnicity using longitudinal data.

Methods: Data for this study were drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (1979-2016). Three self-reported racial/ethnic groups were examined: Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic. The final analytic sample was 8,773. The primary dependent variables were the child behavior problem index (BPI). We constructed a median-dichotomized standardized BPI measure in addition to using the antisocial subscale and depression/anxiety subscales. Parental wealth, defined as net worth, was a time-varying variable calculated as assets minus debt, adjusting for inflation. We further created net worth quartiles within each racial/ethnic groups. To account for the within-person and within-household clustering effects, three-level logistic regression was used. We first conducted the analyses using the whole sample, followed by subgroup analyses by race/ethnicity.

Results: Nearly 42% of the non-Hispanic black respondents were in debt or had zero net worth and had the lowest level of net worth compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Wealth was significantly, negatively associated with all of the BPI indicators. Compared to Non-Hispanic Whites, Hispanic children were less likely to have an above-median total BPI score (OR=.740, 95% CI .592-.925); Non-Hispanic Black children were more likely to have an above-median antisocial score (OR=1.533, 95% CI 1.311-1.792); Non-Hispanic black children were less likely to have an above-median anxiety/depression score (OR=.737, 95% CI .634-.857). For Non-Hispanic white children, greater wealth was significantly associated with lower odds of having poor behavior outcomes, compared to those in the lowest wealth quartile. For Non-Hispanic Black children, wealth was only protective against the three different behavioral problem indicators among those in the highest wealth quartile. There were no significant associations between parental wealth and child behavior problems for Hispanic children.

Bibliography Citation
Chiang, Chien-jen, Sicong Sun and Darrell L. Hudson. "Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Association between Parental Wealth and Child Behavioral Problems." Presented: Phoenix AZ, Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Conference, January 2023.