Full text loading...
Review Article
Open Access
Housing and Healthy Child Development: Known and Potential Impacts of Interventions
- James R. Dunn1
- Vol. 41:381-396 (Volume publication date April 2020) https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040119-094050
- First published as a Review in Advance on December 24, 2019
-
Copyright © 2020 by Annual Reviews.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See credit lines of images or other third party material in this article for license information.
Abstract
Housing is often described as an important determinant of health, but less commonly of child health. Despite acknowledgment of the importance of housing to health, however, there are relatively few studies of the effects of housing interventions on health, and again even fewer on child health. This article argues that a broad focus on healthy child development—as opposed to just physical health—coupled with a conceptual framework outlining specific attributes of housing with the potential to influence child health, should be adopted to guide a comprehensive approach to public health policy for healthy child development. Most housing interventions address direct pathways linking in-home hazard exposures to child health outcomes, with promising but mixed results. But few housing interventions address the broader aspects of healthy child development. This review addresses potential housing interventions that could impact the broader determinants of healthy child development and accompanying methodological challenges.
Article metrics loading...
Literature Cited
- 1.Aratani Y, Lazzeroni S, Brooks-Gunn J, Hernández D 2019. Housing subsidies and early childhood development: a comprehensive review of policies and demonstration projects. Hous. Policy Debate 29:2319–42
- 2.Badcock B. 1984. Unfairly Structured Cities Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell
- 3.Bartlett SN. 1997. Housing as a factor in the socialization of children: a critical review of the literature. Merrill-Palmer Q 43:169–98
- 4.Baum F. 1999. Social capital: Is it good for your health? Issues for a public health agenda. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 53:195–96
- 5.Binder S, Matte TD, Kresnow M, Houston B, Sacks JJ 1996. Lead testing of children and homes: results of a national telephone survey. Public Health Rep 111:4342–46
- 6.Bradley RH. 2002. Environment and parenting. Handbook of Parenting: Biology and Ecology of Parenting MH Bornstein 281–314 Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
- 7.Bradley RH, Caldwell BM. 1984. The relation of infants’ home environments to achievement test performance in first grade: a follow-up study. Child Dev 55:803–9
- 8.Bradley RH, Caldwell BM, Rock SL 1988. Home environment and school performance: a ten-year follow-up and examination of three models of environmental action. Child Dev 59:852–67
- 9.Bradley RH, Corwyn RF, McAdoo HP, García Coll C 2001. The home environments of children in the United States part I: variations by age, ethnicity, and poverty status. Child Dev 72:1844–67
- 10.Brassai L, Piko BF, Steger MF 2011. Meaning in life: Is it a protective factor for adolescents’ psychological health. Int. J. Behav. Med. 18:144–51
- 11.Breysse P, Farr N, Galke W, Lanphear B, Morley R, Bergofsky L 2004. The relationship between housing and health: children at risk. Environ. Health Perspect. 112:151583–88
- 12.Cheer T, Kearns R, Murphy L 2002. Housing policy, poverty, and culture: “discounting” decisions among Pacific peoples in Auckland, New Zealand. Environ. Plan. C Gov. Policy 20:4497–516
- 13.Coley RL, Leventhal T, Lynch AD, Kull M 2013. Relations between housing characteristics and the well-being of low-income children and adolescents. Dev. Psychol. 49:91775–89
- 14.Costello EJ, Compton SN, Keeler G, Angold A 2003. Relationships between poverty and psychopathology: a natural experiment. JAMA 290:2023–29
- 15.Cutrona CE, Russell DW. 1987. The provisions of social relationships and adaptation to stress. Adv. Pers. Relationsh. 1:37–67
- 16.DiGuiseppi C, Jacobs DE, Phelan KJ, Mickalide A, Ormandy D 2010. Housing interventions and control of injury-related structural deficiencies: a review of the evidence. J. Public Health Manag. Pract. 16:S34–43
- 17.Dockery AM, Kendall G, Li J, Mahendran A, Ong R, Strazdins L 2010. Housing and children's development and wellbeing: a scoping study Fin. Rep. 201 Aust. Hous. Urban Res. Inst., Melbourne https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/2067/AHURI_Final_Report_No201_Housing-and-childrens-development-and-wellbeing-evidence-from-Australian-data.pdf
- 18.Doherty G. 1997. Zero to Six: The Basis for School Readiness Ottawa: Hum. Resour. Dev. Can.
- 19.Doherty G. 2001. Targeting early childhood care and education: myths and realities Occas. Pap. 15, Cent. Urban Community Health, Univ. Tor https://www.childcarecanada.org/sites/default/files/op15full.pdf
- 20.Dunn JR, Di Nello A, Gibson-Wood H, Vasilevska B 2015. Recruitment and retention of survey participants in marginalized neighbourhoods. SAGE Res. Methods Cases. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/978144627305014557922
- 21.Dunn JR, Hayes M, Hulchanski D, Hwang S, Potvin L 2004. Housing as a socio-economic determinant of health: a Canadian research framework. Housing & Health: Research, Policy and Innovations P Howden-Chapman, P Caroll 12–39 Aotearoa, NZ: Steele Roberts
- 22.Ellen IG, Glied S. 2015. Housing, neighborhoods, and children's health. Fut. Child 25:1135–53
- 23.Evans GW. 2003. The built environment and mental health. J. Urban Health 80:536–55
- 24.Evans GW. 2006. Child development and the physical environment. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 57:423–51
- 25.Evans GW, Lepore SJ, Schroeder A 1996. The role of interior design elements in human responses to crowding. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 70:41–46
- 26.Evans GW, McCoy JM. 1998. When buildings don't work: the role of architecture in human health. J. Environ. Psychol. 18:85–94
- 27.Evans GW, Saltzman H, Cooperman JL 2001. Housing quality and children's socioemotional health. Environ. Behav. 33:3389–99
- 28.Fauth RC, Leventhal T, Brooks-Gunn J 2007. Welcome to the neighborhood? Long-term impacts of moving to low-poverty neighborhoods on poor children's and adolescents’ outcomes. J. Res. Adolesc. 17:2249–84
- 29.Fenelon A, Slopen N, Boudreaux M, Newman SJ 2018. The impact of housing assistance on the mental health of children in the United States. J. Health Soc. Behav. 59:3447–63
- 30.Fertig AR, Reingold DA. 2007. Public housing, health, and health behaviors: Is there a connection?. J. Policy Anal. Manag. 26:831–59
- 31.Free S, Howden-Chapman P, Pierse N, Viggers H 2010. More effective home heating reduces school absences for children with asthma. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 64:379–86
- 32.Gennetian LA, Sciandra M, Sanbonmatsu L, Ludwig J, Katz LF et al. 2012. The long-term effects of Moving to Opportunity on youth outcomes. Cityscape 14:2137–68
- 33.Granovetter MS. 1973. The strength of weak ties. Am. J. Sociol. 78:1360–80
- 34.Gruenberg DA, Wright RJ, Visness CM, Jaffee KF, Bloomberg GR et al. 2015. Relation between stress and cytokine responses in inner-city mothers. Ann. Allergy Asthma Immunol. 115:439–45
- 35.Harkness S, Super CM. 1994. The developmental niche: a theoretical framework for analyzing the household production of health. Soc. Sci. Med. 38:217–26
- 36.Hartig T, Böök A, Garvill J, Olsson T, Gärling T 1996. Environmental influences on psychological restoration. Scand. J. Psychol. 37:4378–93
- 37.Hartig T, Johansson G, Kylin C 2003. Residence in the social ecology of stress and restoration. J. Soc. Issues 59:611–36
- 38.Hayden ML, Perzanowski M, Matheson L, Scott P, Call RS, Platts-Mills TAE 1997. Dust mite allergen avoidance in the treatment of hospitalized children with asthma. Ann. Allergy Asthma Immunol. 79:5437–42
- 39.Hemming K, Haines TP, Chilton PJ, Girling AJ, Lilford RJ 2015. The stepped wedge cluster randomised trial: rationale, design, analysis, and reporting. BMJ 350:h391
- 40.Hertzman C. 1994. The lifelong impact of childhood experiences: a population health perspective. Daedalus 123:167–80
- 41.Howden-Chapman P, Pierse N, Nicholls S, Gillespie-Bennett J, Viggers H et al. 2008. Effects of improved home heating on asthma in community dwelling children: randomised controlled trial. BMJ 337:a1411
- 42.Ireland TO, Thornberry TP, Loeber R 2003. Violence among adolescents living in public housing: a two-site analysis. Criminol. Public Policy 3:13–38
- 43.Jackson G, Thornley S, Woolston J, Papa D, Bernacchi A, Moore T 2011. Reduced acute hospitalisation with the healthy housing programme. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 65:7588–93
- 44.Jacobs DE, Brown MJ, Baeder A, Sucosky MS, Margolis S et al. 2010. A systematic review of housing interventions and health: introduction, methods, and summary findings. J. Public Health Manag. Pract. 16:S5–10
- 45.Janus M, Offord DR 2007. Development and psychometric properties of the Early Development Instrument (EDI): a measure of children's school readiness. Can. J. Behav. Sci 39:1–22
- 46.Jones RL, Homa DM, Meyer PA, Brody DJ, Caldwell KL et al. 2009. Trends in blood lead levels and blood lead testing among US children aged 1 to 5 years, 1988–2004. Pediatrics 123:3e376–85
- 47.Kagan SL. 1992. Readiness past, present, and future: shaping the agenda. Young Child 48:148–53
- 48.Karasek R, Theorell T. 1990. Healthy Work: Stress, Productivity, and the Reconstruction of Working Life New York: Basic Books
- 49.Katz LF, Kling JR, Liebman JB 2014. Moving to Opportunity in Boston: early results of a randomized mobility experiment. Q. J. Econ. 116:2607–54
- 50.Keall MD, Crane J, Baker MG, Wickens K, Howden-Chapman P, Cunningham M 2012. A measure for quantifying the impact of housing quality on respiratory health: a cross-sectional study. Environ. Health 11:133
- 51.Kessler RC, Duncan GJ, Gennetian LA, Katz LF, Kling JR et al. 2014. Associations of housing mobility interventions for children in high-poverty neighborhoods with subsequent mental disorders during adolescence. JAMA 311:937–48
- 52.Kirkpatrick SI, Tarasuk V. 2007. Adequacy of food spending is related to housing expenditures among lower-income Canadian households. Public Health Nutr 10:121464–73
- 53.Krieger J, Jacobs DE, Ashley PJ, Baeder A, Chew GL et al. 2010. Housing interventions and control of asthma-related indoor biologic agents: a review of the evidence. J. Public Health Manag. Pract. 16:S11–20
- 54.Lanphear BP, Howard C, Eberly S, Auinger P, Kolassa J et al. 1999. Primary prevention of childhood lead exposure: a randomized trial of dust control. Pediatrics 103:4772–77
- 55.Luan H, Law J, Quick M 2015. Identifying food deserts and swamps based on relative healthy food access: a spatio-temporal Bayesian approach. Int. J. Health Geogr. 14:137
- 56.Macintyre S, Ellaway A. 1998. Social and local variations in the use of urban neighbourhoods: a case study in Glasgow. Health Place 4:91–94
- 57.Macintyre S, Ellaway A, Cummins S 2002. Place effects on health: How can we conceptualise, operationalise and measure them. Soc. Sci. Med. 55:125–39
- 58.Matte TD, Jacobs DE. 2000. Housing and health—current issues and implications for research and programs. J. Urban Health 77:7–25
- 59.Moffitt TE, Arseneault L, Belsky D, Dickson N, Hancox RJ et al. 2011. A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety. PNAS 108:72693–98
- 60.Newman S, Holupka CS. 2017. The effects of assisted housing on child well-being. Am. J. Community Psychol. 60:1–266–78
- 61.Newman SJ, Holupka CS. 2014. Housing affordability and child well-being. Hous. Policy Debate 25:116–51
- 62.Newman SJ, Holupka CS. 2014. Housing affordability and investments in children. J. Hous. Econ. 24:89–100
- 63.Purewal Boparai SK, Au V, Koita K, Oh DL, Briner S et al. 2018. Ameliorating the biological impacts of childhood adversity: a review of intervention programs. Child Abuse Negl 81:March82–105
- 64.Sandel M, Baeder A, Bradman A, Hughes J, Mitchell C et al. 2010. Housing interventions and control of health-related chemical agents: a review of the evidence. J. Public Health Manag. Pract. 16:S24–33
- 65.Sandel M, Phelan K, Wright R, Hynes HP, Lanphear BP 2004. The effects of housing interventions on child health. Pediatr. Ann. 33:7474–81
- 66.Shapiro GG, Wighton TG, Chinn T, Zuckrman J, Eliassen AH et al. 1999. House dust mite avoidance for children with asthma in homes of low-income families. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 103:61069–74
- 67.Shonkoff JP, Boyce WT, McEwen BS 2009. Neuroscience, molecular biology, and the childhood roots of health disparities: building a new framework for health promotion and disease prevention. JAMA 301:2252–59
- 68.Shonkoff JP, Garner AS, Siegel BS, Dobbins MI, Earls MF et al. 2012. The lifelong effects of early childhood adversity and toxic stress. Pediatrics 129:1e232–46
- 69.Shonkoff JP, Phillips DA. 2000. From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press
- 70.Slopen N, Fenelon A, Newman S, Boudreaux M 2018. Housing assistance and child health: a systematic review. Pediatrics 141:6e20172742
- 71.Takaro TK, Krieger JW, Song L 2004. Effect of environmental interventions to reduce exposure to asthma triggers in homes of low-income children in Seattle. J. Expo. Sci. Environ. Epidemiol. 14:S133–43
- 72.US HUD (Dep. Hous. Urban Dev.) 2019. Addressing housing affordability in high-cost metropolitan areas in the United States Rep. HUD, Off. Policy Dev. Res. Washington, DC: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/Addressing-Housing-Affordability-High-Cost-Metropolitan-Areas.pdf
- 73.Vaidyanathan G, Wismer S. 2005. Citizen decision-making in socially sensitive housing processes: a case study of Kitchener Canada. Can. J. Urban Res. 14:286–314
- 74.Van der Doef M, Maes S 1998. The job demand-control(-support) model and physical health outcomes: A review of the strain and buffer hypotheses. Psychol. Health 13:909–36
- 75.van Ham M, Boschman S, Vogel M 2018. Incorporating neighborhood choice in a model of neighborhood effects on income. Demography 55:31069–90
- 76.Vandivere S, Hair EC, Theokas C, Cleveland K, McNamara M, Atienza A 2006. How housing affects child well-being Pap., Funders’ Netw. Smart Growth Livable Communities, Coral Gables, FL http://www.fundersnetwork.org/files/learn/Housing_and_Child_Well_Being.pdf
- 77.Vasilevska B, Di Nello A, Bryce E, Dunn JR 2018. Overcoming challenges of conducting longitudinal research in stigmatized urban neighbourhoods. Under-Served: Health Determinants of Indigenous, Inner-City and Migrant Populations in Canada AN Arya, T Piggott 277–87 Toronto: Can. Sch. Press
- 78.Weitzman M, Baten A, Rosenthal DG, Hoshino R, Tohn E, Jacobs DE 2014. Housing and child health. Curr. Probl. Pediatr. Adolesc. Health Care 43:8187–224
- 79.Zika S, Chamberlain K. 1992. On the relation between meaning in life and psychological well-being. Br. J. Psychol. 83:1133–45
Data & Media loading...
- Article Type: Review Article
Most Read This Month
Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed
-
-
REVIEW OF COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH: Assessing Partnership Approaches to Improve Public Health
Vol. 19 (1998), pp. 173–202
-
-
-
Nature and Health
Vol. 35 (2014), pp. 207–228
-
-
-
Measuring Social Class in US Public Health Research: Concepts, Methodologies, and Guidelines
Vol. 18 (1997), pp. 341–378
-
-
-
The Epidemiology of Depression Across Cultures
Vol. 34 (2013), pp. 119–138
-
-
-
Acute Respiratory Effects of Particulate Air Pollution
D. W. Dockery, and C. A. PopeVol. 15 (1994), pp. 107–132
-
-
-
The Role of Behavioral Science Theory in Development and Implementation of Public Health Interventions
Vol. 31 (2010), pp. 399–418
-
-
-
The Social Determinants of Health: Coming of Age
Vol. 32 (2011), pp. 381–398
-
-
-
Racism and Health: Evidence and Needed Research
Vol. 40 (2019), pp. 105–125
-
-
-
Physical Activity and the Incidence of Coronary Heart Disease
Vol. 8 (1987), pp. 253–287
-
- More Less