Residential Crowding and Young Children’s Social and Emotional Behaviors in a Burundian Refugee Community

Abstract

Residential crowding has been shown to negatively impactchild social-emotional development and behavior. The current study used a mixed-method approach to examineresidential crowding and young children’s behavioramong Burundian refugees inthe U.S.through observations of 21 children in homes and interviewswith primary caregivers. Caregivers’ perceptions of crowding predicted children’s positive and distress-relatedbehaviors, whereas more traditional measures of crowding (i.e., people per room) did not predict children’s behavior. Caregivers described crowding in relation to valuinglarge families,and their assessments of crowding were related to the child-to-adult ratio in their home and the age of their youngest child.