An Ecological Model of SES and Youth Hopelessness: The Intervening Roles of Neighborhood Context and Family Processes

An Ecological Model of SES and Youth Hopelessness: The Intervening Roles of Neighborhood Context and Family Processes Public Deposited

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Gonzalez, Michelle
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience

Abstract

Although prior work demonstrates a link between low socioeconomic status (SES) and youth hopelessness, less is known about the mechanisms by which hopelessness is transmitted. This study examined an ecological model of SES and youth hopelessness via a series of intervening processes at both the neighborhood (i.e., crime and sense of community) and family levels (i.e., maternal hopelessness and compromised positive parenting) in a sample of 193 African American single mother-youth (11-16 year old) dyads. Path analyses revealed that families from lower SES backgrounds were more likely to live in neighborhoods with more crime and less sense of community. Lower levels of sense of community, in particular, were associated with higher levels of maternal hopelessness, which in turn, was associated with compromised positive parenting. Lastly, mothers who engaged in less positive parenting practices had adolescents who reported higher levels of hopelessness. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

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