The influence of neighborhood characteristics and parenting practices on academic problems and aggression outcomes among moderately to highly aggressive children

The current study utilized a longitudinal design to examine the effects of neighborhood and parenting on 120 at-risk children's academic and aggressive outcomes, concurrently and at two later timepoints during the transition to middle school. Random effects regression models were estimated to examine whether neighborhood characteristics and harsh parenting predicted change in these problems from 4^th to 6^th grade. Results indicated that academic problems decreased then increased after the middle school transition, whereas aggression decreased then leveled off. Both neighborhood problems and harsh parenting were associated with academic problems; neighborhood problems and poor support were related to aggression. A significant interaction in predicting aggression was found, indicating that children in more problematic neighborhoods and experiencing harsher parenting exhibited the highest levels of aggression. Findings highlight the relation of neighborhood problems to both academic problems outcomes and aggression in youth and underscore the importance of early prevention efforts.