Abstract
Socioemotional learning (SEL) is linked to a broad range of child outcomes, with income playing an important role in child SEL, yet most work has compared high- and low-income children yielding less understanding of variability in risk and protective factors within low-income families and communities. Building upon theories in the positive youth development literature and public health frameworks exploring social determinants of health, this study explored the role of family problem-solving, neighborhood social cohesion, and neighborhood resources in understanding child SEL within 1097 low-income families of 3- to 5-year-old children who participated in the National Survey of Children’s Health. Using confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression, results indicated that family problem-solving, neighborhood social cohesion, and neighborhood resources each uniquely accounted for the variability in child SEL above and beyond covariates. There were no interactions between the independent variables. These results move beyond a between-group deficit focused perspective common in the literature on children and families, including the SEL literature in particular, toward a more nuanced understanding of correlates of SEL within low-income families that can inform future longitudinal and intervention research.
Key Take Away Points
- Family problem-solving and neighborhood social cohesion emerged as significant and positive indicators of better child socioemotional learning outcomes. These findings highlight the importance of social context, not just income, for positive development among low-income youth.
- Neighborhood resources had a small, but significant negative association with socioemotional learning such that fewer neighborhood resources predicted greater socioemotional learning difficulties within this low-income sample.
- Results of this study indicate that family and neighborhood level social factors may be important targets for clinical and policy interventions to enhance child socioemotional learning development and empower caregivers from low-income families. Further longitudinal work is needed to replicate and extend these findings.
Author Biography
Nazaret Suazo is a third-year clinical psychology PhD student in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of Rhode Island. Following this milestone, she worked in various community and clinical settings as a research assistant, interventionist, and project coordinator at Brown University. Nazaret’s research focuses on exploring how contextual and cultural factors may influence child development and psychopathology, particularly within multigenerational households. By examining these relationships, she aims to identify targets for intervention, policy, and family empowerment. Alanah Claybaugh is a third-year PhD student in Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before joining her current program, Alanah completed a master’s degree in Clinical Psychological Science at the University of Maryland at College Park. Her research aims to explore how contextual stressors in children’s everyday environments, particularly within the home and school, affect their overall well-being. By examining these influences, she aims to further our understanding of how the parent-child relationship can promote and support positive outcomes for children. Dr. Deborah Jones is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned her PhD at the University of Georgia, completed her clinical internship at the Brown University Clinical Psychology Training Consortium, and her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Before joining the faculty at UNC Chapel Hill, Dr. Jones was on faculty at West Virginia University. Her research focuses on risk and protective mechanisms underlying adjustment in children, their parents, and other caregivers, and using knowledge of those mechanisms to inform engagement in and outcomes of interventions for all families, including those traditionally underrepresented in clinical science.
Recommended Citation
NC Suazo, AC Claybaugh, DJ Jones. (2025) "The Role of Family Problem-Solving and Neighborhood Social Cohesion on Child Socioemotional Learning Among Families with Low-Income," Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk: Vol. 14: Iss. 2, Article 9.DOI: https://doi.org/10.58464/2155-5834.1579
Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/childrenatrisk/vol14/iss2/9
