Neighborhood Perceptions As a Mediator between Maternal Violence Exposure and Child Internalizing Symptoms

Background and Purpose: Children’s exposure to violence, such as neighborhood violence, is a risk factor for the child’s internalizing problems, including anxiety and depression. The mechanisms through which community violence impacts children’s mental health remain underexplored. Mothers who experience violence may have diminished trust in community closeness and may have negative perceptions of neighborhood safety, which can shape parenting behavior and the emotional climate of the home. Grounded in social disorganizational theory, this study examines whether maternal perceptions of neighborhood safety can mediate the association between maternal violence exposure and the child’s anxious and depressed symptoms as reported by mothers on the Child’s Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

Methods: This study used data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (FFCWS), a longitudinal, birth-cohort study employing multistage, clustered sampling. The analysis included a sample that reported income up to 200% of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL) (N = 2,139). The model was estimated using the Weighted Least Squares Mean and Variance Adjusted estimator (WLSMV). Structural equation modeling (SEM) with three latent variables was used. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to establish the measurement model: maternal violence exposure, neighborhood safety, and the child’s anxious/depressed symptoms reported by mom. The structural model tested direct and indirect pathways from maternal violence exposure to child anxious/depressed symptoms, with neighborhood safety as a mediator. Missing data were addressed using pairwise deletion based on polychoric correlations. Model fit was evaluated using RMSEA, CFI, and SRMR. Covariates included maternal age, marital status, race/ethnicity, education, and household income.

Results: The measurement model demonstrated a good fit (RMSEA = 0.031, 90% CI [0.029, 0.034]; CFI = 0.985; SRMR = 0.047. The final structural model reported a good fit (RMSEA = 0.027, 90% CI [0.025, 0.029]; CFI = 0.981; SRMR = 0.058). Maternal violence exposure was significant and positively associated with child anxious/depressed symptoms (β = 0.258, p < .001), which indicates that mothers with a greater violence exposure observe higher levels of internalizing symptoms in their children. Although maternal violence exposure was negatively associated with neighborhood safety (β = -0.087, p = .003), neighborhood safety did not mediate the relationship between violence exposure and child anxious/depressed symptoms (indirect effect β = 0.000, p = .838).

Conclusions and Implications: The findings suggest that maternal exposure to violence is a significant risk factor for child anxious and depressed symptoms, after controlling for socioeconomic factors. Perceived neighborhood safety did not mediate this relationship, which suggests that the pathway from maternal violence exposure to the child’s internalizing symptoms may function through other mechanisms. It highlights the importance of interventions for mothers experiencing violence, particularly in low-income communities.