The Role of Chaos in Poverty and Children's Socioemotional Adjustment
Abstract
There are growing levels of chaos in the lives of American children, youth, and families. Increasingly, children grow up in households lacking in structure and routine, inundated by background stimulation from noise and crowding, and forced to contend with the frenetic pace of modern life. Although widespread, chaos does not occur randomly in the population. We document that low-income adolescents face higher levels of chaos than their more affluent counterparts and provide longitudinal evidence that some of the adverse effects of poverty on socioemotional adjustment are mediated by exposure to chaotic living conditions.
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The educational achievement gap and health disparities are caused by a common set of social-environmental factors.
“are caused by a common set of social-environmental factors”
From Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in School Reforms to Close the Achievement Gap (2011) · cites this paper as [7]
Education and health can exert strong, reciprocal effects.
“both education and health can also exert strong, reciprocal effects”
From Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in School Reforms to Close the Achievement Gap (2011) · cites this paper as [7]
Low SES increases the likelihood of stressors in the home and neighborhood, including exposure to toxic chemical agents such as lead and air pollution, and chaos in the home is associated with development of poor self-regulatory behaviors, as well as obesity.
“Nevertheless, low SES does increase the likelihood of stressors in the home and neighborhood, including also exposure to toxic chemical agents such as lead and air pollution, 119 and chaos in the home is associated with development of poor self-regulatory behaviors, as well as obesity.”
From Neurobiological and Systemic Effects of Chronic Stress (2017) · cites this paper as [120]
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“tionships [46].”
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“Studies of schoolage children have similarly shown that the effects of low SES on socioemotional problems is mediated by heightened levels of chaos, operationalized as noise, crowding, foot traffic, confusion at home, and disrupted routines and rituals [145].”
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Does executive function mediate SES and home quality associations with academic readiness?
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Stress and Anxiety Across the Lifespan: Structural Plasticity and Epigenetic Regulation
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Objective and subjective socioeconomic gradients exist for sleep in children and adolescents.
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“This is consistent with prior theory and research that indicates that the presence of family routines is beneficial to adolescent mental health (Fiese et al. 2002), whereas more chaotic family environments hinder adolescent socioemeotional functioning (Evans et al. 2005).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialThe influence of unpredictable, fragmented parental signals on the developing brain
Glynn, L. M., & Baram, T. Z. (2019) · Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2019.01.002 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
“, has been established as described above, recent work in both humans and animal models highlights the importance of patterns of maternal-derived cues to the developing brain in shaping the maturation of brain circuits (Davis et al., 2017; Baram et al., 2012; Molet et al., 2016a, 2016b; Evans et al., 2005).”
Agency and the Calibration of Motivated Behavior
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“What roles do these systems play in the inference and behavioral consequences of control? low degree of environmental control, a key mediator of these behavioral outcomes is a high reported level of chaos in the home [59].”
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“Studies of chaos should adequately represent disadvantaged children because they are more likely to reside in chaotic homes (Dumas et al., 2005; Evans et al., 2005).”
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The Psychology of Home Environments
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“Chaos and crowding in the home have also been associated with negative emotion in infants (Bridgett, Burt, Laake, & Oddi, 2013) and the expression of disruptive behaviors in children (Evans et al., 2005; Hanscombe et al., 2011; Jaffee, Hanscombe, Haworth, Davis, & Plomin, 2012).”
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“They also predict home environments that are generally less warm, stimulating, and organized (Brooks-Gunn, Klebanov, & Liaw, 1995 ; Evans, Gonnella, Marcynyszyn, Gentile, & Salpekar, 2005 ; Menaghan & Parcel, 1991 ; Smith et al, 1997 ).”
Childhood poverty and adult psychological well-being
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“A few childhood poverty studies have shown that both children and adolescents from more disadvantaged backgrounds manifest more helplessness (15, 16).”
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Measuring novel antecedents of mental illness: the Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood
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SES and CHAOS as environmental mediators of cognitive ability: A longitudinal genetic analysis
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“107) and Medicaid expansion (t(10,602) = 2.”
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Pathways to lifespan health following childhood parental death
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The impact of poverty on the development of brain networks
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“For instance, Evans et al. (2005) have pointed to the role of chaotic unpredictable family environments – a specific aspect of SES, which is usually not analyzed – as a threat to emotion regulation.”
BackgroundEarly exposure to environmental chaos and children's physical and mental health
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“Research has shown that experiences of environmental chaos are especially common among low-income families, with economic, housing, and relational insecurities both contributing to and being affected by poverty (Deater-Deckard et al., 2009; Evans et al., 2005; Newman, 2008).”
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“The majority of studies addressing poverty and cognitive/ executive functions have traditionally been administered to children (e.g., Evans et al., 2005; Ayoub et al., 2009; Dickerson and Popli, 2016; Kaya et al., 2016), with only a few authors (Shah et al., 2012; Mani et al., 2013) focusing on…”
Background
- Authors
- Evans, G. W., Gonnella, C., Marcynyszyn, L. A., Gentile, L., & Salpekar, N.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Evans, Gary W.
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2005-07
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 560-565
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2056065044
- Cited by
- 709
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 60 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 49 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 45 · 2017: 50 · 2016: 57 · 2015: 35 · 2014: 42 · 2013: 34 · 2012: 33
- FWCI
- 8.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (F31MH068089, 1F31 MH 68089-01A1)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (F33HD008473, 1 F33 HD 08473-01)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Keywords
- chaos, poverty, social-emotional adjustment, low-income youth, living conditions, household composition, crowding, noise, mediation, child development
- MeSH terms
- Child, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Helplessness, Learned, Humans, Male, Poverty, Social Adjustment, Socioeconomic Factors
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