Longitudinal Impacts of Housing Cost Burden on Physical Assault and Psychological Aggression of Children from Age 3 to 15

Background and Purpose: More than half a million children experience maltreatment in the U.S. each year. While risk for maltreatment is highest in the first three years of life, financial hardship contributes additional risk across all stages of childhood. Lack of affordable housing poses significant financial strain; as the affordable housing supply has continued to shrink over the past decade, children in under-resourced families may experience continued risk for maltreatment. The cognitive load associated with navigating inadequate resources to meet basic needs can cause severe psychological strain for families that interferes with healthy, positive parenting. Few studies investigate the evolving relationship between housing cost burden and maltreatment over time, and limited empirical evidence informs housing as a means of maltreatment prevention across child development. The present study investigated the relationship between housing cost burden and maltreatment for mother-child dyads from ages 3 to 15. Specifically: 1) What are the within- and between-child trajectories of physical assault and psychological aggression victimization over time from early childhood to adolescence? 2) How does housing cost burden affect trajectories of physical assault and psychological aggression from early childhood to adolescence?

Methods: Data came from the Future of Families and Child Well-Being Study. The analytic sample was limited to mothers who remained the primary caregivers for children at the Years 3 through 15 interviews (N = 1,778). The primary dependent variables were two types of child maltreatment – physical assault and psychological aggression – measured using items from the Conflict Tactics Scale when children were approximately ages 3, 5, 9, and 15 years old. The primary predictor of maltreatment was housing cost burden, captured using mothers’ reports at each wave of whether they had missed a rent or mortgage payment in the past 12 months due to inability to pay. Latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) estimated associations of housing cost burden with within- and between-child differences in maltreatment from age 3 to age 15.

Results: Both physical assault and psychological aggression declined on average from age 3 to age 15, but rates varied significantly between children. Mother’s age and race as well as child gender differentiated starting points and rates of decline in maltreatment over time. Housing cost burden was associated with psychological aggression within time at ages 3, 5, and 9. Physical assault had longer-lasting impacts of housing cost burden. Specifically, housing cost burden at age 3 was associated with physical assault at ages 3, 5, and 9, and cost burden at age 5 was associated with physical assault at age 15.

Conclusions and Implications: Financial strain due to housing costs increases risk for maltreatment across child development. Parents who struggle to pay monthly bills face high levels of stress that may decrease their ability to deal with everyday parenting demands proactively. Social welfare policies must address the availability of affordable housing stock and assistance to families to afford housing. Effective child maltreatment prevention involves support to the entire family unit, including their ability to meet their families’ basic housing needs.