IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/
MyIDEAS: Log in (now much improved!) to save this article

Housing and child development

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Leventhal, Tama
  • Newman, Sandra
Registered author(s):

    Abstract

    This article presents a critical review of recent research on the role of housing in children's development, including physical health; social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes; and schooling, achievement, and economic attainment. We focus on six features of housing that are central to housing policy and have generally received the most research attention: (1) physical housing quality; (2) crowding; (3) residential mobility; (4) homeownership; (5) subsidized housing; and (6) unaffordability. The strongest evidence is provided for the deleterious associations between environmental toxins/hazards and crowding with children's health, and for residential mobility with children's short-term academic, social and emotional problems. The findings on assisted housing are mixed, and homeownership and affordability are not linked to children's outcomes. More methodologically rigorous and conceptually focused research is needed. Despite fundamental knowledge gaps, the results have implications for housing policies focused on homeownership, subsidies and land use regulations.

    Download Info

    If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190-7409(10)00072-1
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

    Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Children and Youth Services Review.

    Volume (Year): 32 (2010)
    Issue (Month): 9 (September)
    Pages: 1165-1174

    as
    in new window

    Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:32:y:2010:i:9:p:1165-1174
    Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth

    Keywords: Housing Child development Family well-being Policy Low-income;

    References listed on IDEAS
    Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

    as
    in new window


    1. Currie, Janet & Yelowitz, Aaron, 2000. "Are public housing projects good for kids?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 99-124, January.
    2. Aaronson, Daniel, 2000. "A Note on the Benefits of Homeownership," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 356-369, May.
    3. Gary S. Becker, 1981. "A Treatise on the Family," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck81-1, June.
    4. Gary S. Becker & Nigel Tomes, 1994. "Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families," NBER Chapters,in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education (3rd Edition), pages 257-298 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Angela R. Fertig & David A. Reingold, 2007. "Public housing, health, and health behaviors: Is there a connection?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 831-860.
    6. Goux, Dominique & Maurin, Eric, 2005. "The effect of overcrowded housing on children's performance at school," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(5-6), pages 797-819, June.
    7. Sandra J. Newman, 2008. "Does housing matter for poor families? A critical summary of research and issues still to be resolved," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 895-925.
    8. Shana Pribesh & Douglas Downey, 1999. "Why are residential and school moves associated with poor school performance?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 36(4), pages 521-534, November.
    9. Green, Richard K. & White, Michelle J., 1997. "Measuring the Benefits of Homeowning: Effects on Children," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 441-461, May.
    10. Donald R. Haurin & Toby L. Parcel & R. Jean Haurin, 2002. "Does Homeownership Affect Child Outcomes?," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 30(4), pages 635-666.
    11. Sandra J. Newman & Joseph M. Harkness, 2002. "The long-term effects of public housing on self-sufficiency," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(1), pages 21-43.
    12. Boehm, Thomas P. & Schlottmann, Alan M., 1999. "Does Home Ownership by Parents Have an Economic Impact on Their Children?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 217-232, September.
    13. Suzanne Bianchi, 2000. "Maternal employment and time with children: Dramatic change or surprising continuity?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(4), pages 401-414, November.
    14. Robert Haveman & Barbara Wolfe & James Spaulding, 1991. "Childhood events and circumstances influencing high school completion," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 28(1), pages 133-157, February.
    15. David Barker & Eric Miller, 2009. "Homeownership and Child Welfare," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 37(2), pages 279-303.
    16. Nan Astone & Sara McLanahan, 1994. "Family structure, residential mobility, and school dropout: A research note," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 31(4), pages 575-584, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.

    as
    in new window


    Cited by:

    1. Brian Jacob & Max Kapustin & Jens Ludwig, 2014. "Human Capital Effects of Anti-Poverty Programs: Evidence from a Randomized Housing Voucher Lottery," NBER Working Papers 20164, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Coulton, Claudia J. & Richter, Francisca & Kim, Seok-Joo & Fischer, Robert & Cho, Youngmin, 2016. "Temporal effects of distressed housing on early childhood risk factors and kindergarten readiness," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 59-72.
    3. Kull, Melissa A. & Coley, Rebekah Levine, 2014. "Housing costs and child functioning: Processes through investments and financial strains," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 25-38.
    4. Lewis, Melinda & Cramer, Reid & Elliott, William & Sprague, Aleta, 2014. "Policies to promote economic stability, asset building, and child development," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 15-21.
    5. Darlington Mushongera & Precious Zikhali & Phindile Ngwenya, 2017. "A Multidimensional Poverty Index for Gauteng Province, South Africa: Evidence from Quality of Life Survey Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 277-303, January.
    6. Leonard M. Lopoo & Andrew S. London, 2016. "Household Crowding During Childhood and Long-Term Education Outcomes," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(3), pages 699-721, June.

    This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

    Access and download statistics

    When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:32:y:2010:i:9:p:1165-1174. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Dana Niculescu)

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

    If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis using RePEc data.