Family-school connections and internalizing problems among children living with asthma in urban, low-income neighborhoods.
Children with asthma living in urban environments are at risk for experiencing internalizing problems and difficulties at school due to social context and health-related stressors. Parent confidence and participation in the school and children's attitudes about school were explored in association with children's depressed mood and school anxiety. Forty-five parent-child dyads were recruited from urban community health centers. Most participants were members of ethnic minority groups. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that higher levels of parent confidence in the school were associated with fewer symptoms of school anxiety in children. Children's attitudes toward school moderated the relation between parent participation in the school and children's depressed mood. Specifically, lower levels of parent participation were associated with higher levels of depressed mood only for children with the least positive school attitudes. Although preliminary, these results suggest the importance of attending to family-school connections to optimize the school-related psychological functioning of children living with asthma in urban environments.
Murdock
Karla Klein
KK
Department of Psychology, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA 24450, USA. MurdockK@wlu.edu
Robinson
Elizabeth M
EM
Adams
Sue K
SK
Berz
Jennifer
J
Rollock
Michael J D
MJ
D001007:Anxiety; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D002669:Child Welfare; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006798:Housing / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*