Homeless youth are an understudied and stigmatized group. In their daily lives, these youth confront negative social perceptions and harrowing circumstances related to survival, which may present challenges to the construction of a meaningful, coherent identity. Using the theoretical notion of narrative engagement (Hammack & Cohler, 2009), this study explores how youth experiencing homelessness...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES There is increasing recognition of the cognitive consequences of socioeconomic adversity during childhood, which can impair learning and negatively affect social and emotional development. However, there is a paucity of research on cognitive functioning and mental health among transition-age homeless youth. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap by examining th...

OBJECTIVE To examine family risk factors associated with dissociative symptoms among homeless and runaway youth. METHOD Three hundred and twenty-eight homeless and runaway youth were interviewed using a systematic sampling strategy in metropolitan Seattle. Homeless young people were interviewed on the streets and in shelters by outreach workers in youth service agencies. RESULTS The current...

For the past four years, we have conducted an unfolding series of service, design, and research projects in a community of homeless young people. Working within the value sensitive design methodology, the overarching aim of this work is twofold: First, to understand how homeless youth adopt digital media and personal digital technologies and generally bring information systems in their lives; a...

Our paper examines service usage (e.g., shelter) as well as a typology of individuals who are most likely to use groupings of services among 249 homeless youth. Our results revealed that the majority of homeless young people have used food programs (66%) and street outreach (65%) on at least one occasion within the past year. Cluster analysis of services revealed four distinct groups: (1) basic...

Though few studies exist on service utilization among homeless youth in the U.S., services are important because without them, many of these young people may resort to delinquent strategies in order to meet their daily survival needs. The current study examines frequency and correlates of service utilization (i.e., shelters, food programs, street outreach, counseling, STI and HIV testing) among...

This study investigated the utility of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) to document associations between homeless status and weight while estimating the prevalence of youth homelessness in three regions. A school-based survey, the YRBS includes youths who have been difficult to involve in past research. Analysis of 2011 YRBS data produced population-weighted estimates of youth homelessness...

Youth homelessness is a growing problem in the United States. The experience of homelessness appears to have numerous adverse consequences, including psychiatric and substance use disorders. This study compared the frequencies of psychiatric disorders, including substance use, between homeless youth (18-24 years-old) in San Francisco (N = 31) and Chicago (N = 56). Subjects were administered the...

Introduction 2 Homelessness affects millions of people all over the world and has important physical and mental health implications that, very often, have been ignored when analyzing their condition. While many investigators have taken into consideration the labor status and social relationships of excluded populations (Castel, 2000), there is a third dimension that greatly impacts these people...

Introduction: Almost 2 million U.S. youth are estimated to live on the streets, in shelters, or in other types of temporary housing at some point each year. Both their age and living situations make them more likely to engage in high-risk behaviors, particularly during adolescence, a time of increased risk taking. Much of self-control appears related to the development of the prefrontal cortex,...