MPC Member Publications

This database contains a listing of population studies publications written by MPC Members. Anyone can add a publication by an MPC student, faculty, or staff member to this database; new citations will be reviewed and approved by MPC administrators.

Full Citation

Title: Housing mobility protects against alcohol use for children with socioemotional health vulnerabilities: An experimental design

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2022

ISSN: 1530-0277

DOI: 10.1111/ACER.14911

PMID: 36121443

Abstract: Purpose: Neighborhood context may influence alcohol use, but effects may be heterogeneous, and prior evidence is threatened by confounding. We leveraged a housing voucher experiment to test whether housing vouchers' effects on alcohol use differed for families of children with and without socioemotional health or socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Trial design: In the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) study, low-income families in public housing in five US cities were randomized in 1994 to 1998 to receive one of three treatments: (1) a housing voucher redeemable in a low-poverty neighborhood plus housing counseling, (2) a housing voucher without locational restriction, or (3) no voucher (control). Alcohol use was assessed 10 to 15 years later (2008 to 2010) in youth ages 13 to 20, N = 4600, and their mothers, N = 3200. Methods: Using intention-to-treat covariate-adjusted regression models, we interacted MTO treatment with baseline socioemotional health vulnerabilities, testing modifiers of treatment on alcohol use. Results: We found treatment effect modification by socioemotional factors. For youth, MTO voucher treatment, compared with controls, reduced the odds of ever drinking alcohol if youth had behavior problems (OR = 0.26, 95% CI [0.09, 0.72]) or problems at school (OR = 0.46, [0.26, 0.82]). MTO low-poverty treatment (vs. controls) also reduced the number of drinks if their health required special medicine/equipment (OR = 0.50 [0.32, 0.80]). Yet treatment effects were nonsignificant among youth without socioemotional vulnerabilities. Among mothers of children with learning problems, MTO voucher treatment (vs. controls) reduced past-month drinking (OR = 0.69 [0.47, 0.99]), but was harmful otherwise (OR = 1.22 [0.99, 1.45]). Conclusions: For low-income adolescents with special needs/socioemotional problems, housing vouchers protect against alcohol use.

Url: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36121443/

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Thyden, Naomi H.; Schmidt, Nicole M.; Joshi, Spruha; Kim, Huiyun; Nelson, Toben F.; Osypuk, Theresa L.

Periodical (Full): Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research

Issue: 9

Volume: 46

Pages: 1695-1709

Countries:

IPUMS NHGIS NAPP IHIS ATUS Terrapop