Neighbourhood Income Inequality and General Psychopathology at 3-Years of Age

Background: Several studies have linked neighbourhood environment to preschool-aged children’s behavioural problems. Income inequality is an identified risk factor for mental health among adolescents, however, little is known as to whether this relationship extends to younger children. Objective: To explore the association between neighbourhood-level income inequality and general psychopathology problems among preschool-aged children. Methods: We analyzed data from the All Our Families (AOF) longitudinal cohort located in Calgary, Canada at 3-years postpartum. The analytical sample consisted of 1615 mother-preschooler dyads nested within 184 neighbourhoods. Mothers completed the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth Child Behaviour Checklist (NLSCY-CBCL), which assessed internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Income inequality was assessed via the Gini coefficient, which quantifies the unequal distribution of income in society. Mixed effects linear regression assessed the relationship between neighbourhood income inequality and preschooler’s general psychopathology. Results: The mean Gini coefficient across the 184 neighbourhoods was 0.33 (SD = 0.05; min, max: 0.20-0.56). In the fully adjusted model income inequality was not associated with general psychopathology in children β = 0.07 (95%CI:-0.29, 0.45). Neighbourhood environment accounted for 0.5% of the variance in psychopathology in children. Conclusion: The lack of significant findings may be due to a lack of statistical power in the study. Future studies should investigate this relationship with appropriately powered studies, and over time, to assess if income inequality is a determinant of preschooler psychopathology in Canada.