Abstract Background Homelessness is associated with health problems and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The risk of chronic conditions for homeless compared to housed youth, how this interacts ACEs remains unclear. This study investigated the relationship between ACEs, housing, child health, whether: 1) vary by housing context; 2) homelessness confer independent risks; 3) interact regard ...

OBJECTIVES To identify barriers that are common and unique to six selected vulnerable groups: low socioeconomic status; Indigenous; mental illness and substance abuse; homeless; prisoners; and at-risk youth. DESIGN A systematic review was carried out to identify the perceived barriers to smoking cessation within six vulnerable groups. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and PsycInfo were s...

OBJECTIVE To examine abuse specific variables among homeless and runaway adolescents and to look at perpetrators of childhood abuse. METHOD A total of 372 homeless and runaway adolescents were interviewed using a systematic sampling strategy in metropolitan Seattle. Young people were interviewed on the streets and in shelters by outreach workers in youth service agencies. RESULTS Approximat...

We consider the problem of designing fair, efficient, and interpretable policies for prioritizing heterogeneous homeless youth on a waiting list for scarce housing resources of different types. We focus on point-based policies that use features of the housing resources (e.g., permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing) and the youth (e.g., age, history of substance use) to maximize the proba...

Objectives. The mortality rate of a street-recruited homeless youth cohort in the United States has not yet been reported. We examined the six-year mortality rate for a cohort of street youth recruited from San Francisco street venues in 2004. Methods. Using data collected from a longitudinal, venue-based sample of street youth 15-24 years of age, we calculated age, race, and gender-adjusted mo...

INTRODUCTION This paper reports a mental health assessment of 60 homeless youth. Our study explored the mental health needs of youth accessing an overnight youth shelter (maximum stay 8 weeks). METHODS Participants completed an interview (45 to 120 minutes in duration) using one demographic form and one of two standardized questionnaires (Youth Self Report, Adult Self Report). Questions asses...

Article history: Received 12 August 2015 Received in revised form 29 January 2016 Accepted 1 February 2016 Available online 2 February 2016 Using Agnew's (2006) general strain theory as a guide, we seek to identify some of the key events and experiences that place homeless youth at high risk of justice system involvement. By expanding and elaborating on the particular types of strains and stres...

Although social networks are essential for explaining protective and risk factors among homeless youth, little is known about the formation and composition of these groups. In this study, we utilized 19 in-depth interviews with homeless youth to investigate their social network formation, role relationships, housing status, and network member functions. Our findings reveal that the formation of...

Recent research on the social support networks of homeless and runaway youth suggest the social networks of runaway youth are made up largely of transient deviant peer relationships. This paper examined social network characteristics of 428 homeless and runaway adolescents from small-to moderate-sized cities in four Midwestern states. We investigated size, homogeneity, and correlates of the com...

Using a sample of 1,625 homeless youth and young adults aged 10 to 25 from 28 different states in the United States, this study examines the correlates of having engaged in survival sex. Findings suggest that differences exist based on demographic variables (gender, age, race, and sexual orientation), lifetime drug use (inhalants, Valium™, crack cocaine, alcohol, Coricidin™, and morphine), rece...