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Table 5 Household Chaos as mediator and/or moderator

From: The relationship between household chaos and child, parent, and family outcomes: a systematic scoping review

Study

HC as mediator

HC as moderator

Asbury, 2003 [37]

HC did not mediate the relationship between parenting and behavioural outcomes.

HC significantly moderated the relationship between (1) differential harsh parental discipline and differential CP, and (2) differential negative parental feelings and anxiety, hyperactivity, and CP. That is, the relationship between NSE influences (i.e. differential parenting) and behavioural outcomes were stronger in high chaos homes.

Asbury, 2006 [24]

 

HC moderated the relationship between: (1) discordant harsh discipline and CP [increase in CP], (2) discordant negative feelings and CP [increase in CP], (3) discordant parental negative feelings and academic achievement [achievement decreased], and (4) instructive parent-child communication and anxiety [anxiety increased] (where instructive communication including things like correcting child’s grammar)

Boles, 2017 [13]

Children with higher scores for emotional and behaviour problems were more likely to have higher bedtime resistance, but higher levels of HC may account for this relationship; HC associated with bedtime resistance significantly mediated the relationship between Behavioural and Emotional Screen System and bedtime resistance.

 

Bridgett, 2013 [39]

HC mediated the effects of maternal self-regulation on infant frustration/distress to limitations.

 

Brieant, 2017 [40]

 

Parent EF significantly predicted changes over time in adolescent EF, with this association contingent on levels HC, such that a stronger relationship was observed in the presence of greater HC.

Chen, 2010 [107]

HC partially mediated the relationship between SES and daily cortisol output.

 

Chen, 2014 [45]

 

HC moderated the relationship between harsher maternal negativity and child maladjustment in children who had low levels of effortful control. HC did not moderate any other temperament-by-parenting interactions.

Coldwell, 2006 [4]

 

In a minority of cases, HC was found to moderate the role between parenting and child behaviour, whereby HC exacerbated the effect of poorer quality parenting on problem behaviour.

Deater-Deckard, 2012 [89]

 

Maternal EF moderated the relationship between child CP and harsh parenting, so that this relationship was only significant in mothers with poorer EF. Further, this moderating effect of EF was further moderated by HC, so that the effect was particularly strong in the presence of low HC, but not high HC.

Evans, 2005 [14]

The adverse effects of poverty on socioemotional adjustment were shown to be mediated by HC.

 

Farbiash, 2014 [46]

HC was found to significantly mediate the relationship between paternal (but not maternal) ADHD symptoms and children’s aggression in the preschool years.

 

Flouri, 2017 [47]

HC did not mediate the relationship between low SES and CP in children with ADHD

 

Fuller-Rowell, 2015 [50]

 

Early HC moderated relationship between poverty and task persistence in later adolescence.

Garrett-Peters, 2016 [26]

In the presence of household disorganisation (but not instability), income poverty was no longer directly related to academic achievement. Income was related to disorganisation, however, which in turn was associated with lower academic achievement.

 

Gould, 2017 [51]

 

HC did not moderate the relationship between genes and development of ADHD.

Gregory, 2005 [52]

HC partially mediated the relationship between sleep problems and child anxiety, with HC accounting for ~ 30% of the association.

 

Hart, 2007 [11]

HC mediated the relationship between shared environmental variance and longitudinal stability of cognitive ability in early childhood.

 

Hur, 2015 [28]

HC mediated relationship between parental depressive symptoms and mother-reported social skills of child.

 

Kahn, 2016 [58]

 

Hostile parenting mediated the relationship between parent and adolescent CU, but only in the presence of high HC. Harsh parenting explained intergenerational similarity in CU traits, and HC exacerbated this relationship.

Kim-Spoon, 2017 [59]

 

High parental control predicted better neural cognitive control in adolescents living in low HC contexts. Poor neural cognitive control was associated with reduced social competence 1-year later (after controlling for social competence at baseline), but this relationship was only significant in high HC contexts. HC was shown to undermine positive associations between parental control and adolescent neural cognitive control and exacerbated the negative association between poor neural cognitive control and social competence development.

Lauharatanahirun, 2018 [81]

 

HC moderated the relationship between adolescent-report of parental knowledge/parental monitoring and adolescent insular risk processing, which has been shown to precede risk-adverse choices, whereby it was only present in the presence of low HC.

Lemery-Chalfant, 2013 [61]

 

Heritability of children’s temperament was moderated by HC, meaning that effortful control and surgency were more heritable in high HC contexts.

Midouhas, 2013 [62]

 

Autism was associated with higher rates of psychopathology over time, and family poverty was associated with emotional and CP (psychopathology); however, home organisation did not moderate the relationship between family poverty and psychopathology.

Mills-Koonce, 2016 [64]

 

HC did not moderate the relationship between parenting and child behaviours.

Mokrova, 2010 [92]

Mother’s ADHD symptoms were positively associated with inconsistent discipline and non-supportive responses to child’s negative emotions; this relationship was mediated by HC. Father’s ADHD symptoms were associated with low involvement; HC mediated this relationship.

Father’s ADHD symptoms were associated with inconsistent discipline; this relationship was moderated by HC.

Oliver, 2008 [65]

 

HC moderated the relationship between within-pair differences in perceptions of the classroom environment and teacher report of less prosocial and more hyperactive behaviour, and greater conduct and peer problems. Specifically, associations between differential classroom environment and CP were greater for children in more chaotic homes.

Petrill, 2004 [23]

HC partially mediated an independent and significant portion of the shared environment for verbal and nonverbal and PARCA scores at ages 3 and 4 years. HC was a significant mediator even when controlling for SES.

 

Shelleby, 2014 [70]

Significant direct association between income and emotional problems and CP; HC was a significant mediator in the relationship between income and emotional problems.

 

Taylor, 2014 [35]

HC mediated relationship between respect for rules and increased reading comprehension, even after controlling for income.

 

Towe-Goodman, 2011 [73]

 

In a low-income sub-group, HC was found to moderate the relationship between interparental aggression in toddlerhood and the development of child attention skills and early childhood behaviour problems at age 3 years. In low-income families with low HC, there was a significant association between greater interparental aggression and increases 3-year ADHD symptoms, but this relationship was not significant in low-income, high HC families.

Tucker, 2018 [82]

 

HC moderated the effect of hostile parenting on adolescents’ depression 2 years later, so that depression was exacerbated in the context of high HC. HC did not moderate the relationship between parenting and physical health and problematic substance use.

Wang, 2012 [78]

 

HC moderated the genetic variance and covariance between externalising problems and attention regulation, with the genetic influences stronger in HC contexts; however, higher levels of HC attenuated the genetic association between externalising problems and attention regulation.

Wang, 2013 [97]

 

The relationship between maternal attribution bias and parenting behaviour were stronger in more chaotic environments; the moderating effect of HC was particularly strong for internal attribution bias.

Wilkinson, 2013 [79]

 

Depressive symptoms at age 12 were significantly heritable, and HC and parenting style at age 9 years moderated this association.

Wirth, 2017 [99]

The relationships between ADHD and positive parenting, corporal punishment, and inconsistent discipline were somewhat mediated by HC. As such, high HC was associated with specific parenting dimensions in families with children with ADHD.

 
  1. NSE Non-shared environment