Child Maltreatment and Psychological Distress Among Urban Homeless Youth

Lisa Russell

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781317732495
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Sociología

This book describes a secondary analysis of survey data collected from a modified snowball sample of 96 homeless and runaway youth. The sample contains youth from selected street and social service sites located within a geographically defined region of Los Angeles. The analysis examines the area of inquiry defined by the intersection of three somewhat disparate fields of research. These fields include the literatures on homeless and runaway youth; child maltreatment; and stress, coping and resiliency. First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

V

Results

Results are presented in sub-sections which cover the basic research questions: (1) describing the sample¹ with emphasis on the context of homelessness, history of child maltreatment, and psychological distress; (2) examining associations between child maltreatment and psychological distress; and (3) examining potential mediators and moderators of the association between child maltreatment and psychological distress. Due to the density of the descriptive results, a results summary follows a detailed account of the analyses. The results summary reviews both significant associations and non-significant trends.

When reading the results chapter, tests of significance should be regarded with caution for three reasons: (1) the sample is a non-probability sample and may not accurately represent the homeless youth population in Hollywood, CA, (2) responses from different individuals may not be independent of one another, and (3) the small sample size does not allow for much statistical power to determine significant subgroup differences. Consequently, cross-tabulation cell differences which exceed 10% may be referred to as suggestive in the absence of a statistically significant Chi-square or Fisher’s exact test, and all results are viewed with an emphasis on hypothesis-generation for future studies rather than on hypothesis-testing. Chi-square values which are not cited in the text may be found in the tables. Chi-square values and odds ratios are reported only for relationships which reach levels of significance less than .10.

Sample Characteristics

Demographics and Educational Background

The modal characteristics of the sample are as follows: 61% are male, 59% are White, and 60% have a birthplace outside of California (Table 5.1). The mean age of the sample is 16.1 years (range 13-17 years). Gender and race/ethnicity covaried with age whereby men tended to be older than women and African-Americans tended to be younger than youth of other racial or ethnic heritage. Eighteen percent of the sample either identified themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual or reported involvement in same sex sexual activities in the year preceding the interview.

The mean grade level completed is 9.2,28% have been held back at some point in school, and 27% have been in a special education program (Table 5.2). Modal (42%) school performance was average. School performance tended to be higher among younger respondents and among respondents who had histories of placement in foster or group care. Seventy-eight percent of the sample had been suspended, and 37% had been expelled from school. Seventy-one percent of the sample reported having plans to return to school some day; 12% were in school at the time of the interview.

Ten percent of the respondents identified themselves as emancipated minors, i.e., possessing the legal status of adults. Four percent of the sample had been previously married; none were currently married and living with their spouses. Thirty-one percent of the female respondents had given birth to one or more children; none were living with their children at the time of the interview.

Family History

With regard to the respondent’s biological parents, 17% of the sample never knew one or both of their parents (Table 5.3). Twenty-seven percent of the sample had parents who were still married to each other. Fourteen percent of the respondents had lost a mother to death, and 11% had lost a father. Sixty-seven percent of the respondents’ mothers and 77% of the fathers had at least a 12th grade education. Over half of the respondents were born to mothers who were 20 years of age or younger at the time of their births, and two out of three had living siblings. Mother’s age at the birth of the respondent was positively related to the educational level of the respondent’s father and the respondent’s lifetime homelessness exposure, and it was inversely related to the respondent’s placement in foster care.

History of Institutional Placements

Over three-quarters of the sample had spent some time in an institutional placement, such as foster care, group care, and/or juvenile detention (Table 5.4). Among those who had been in placement, the median number of times in any institutional placement was four. One-third of the sample had been in multiple types of placements. The most common placement was juvenile detention (22% of the total sample). History of placement in a juvenile detention facility covaried with chronic homelessness. Number of institutional placements was positively related to the number of episodes of homelessness, the lifetime total number of days of homelessness, and history of hospitalization for mental health problems, and was inversely related to age at first homeless episode.

Detention by Law Enforcement and Participation in Violence

Over half of the respondents had been detained by the police overnight at least once (Table 5.5). The most common reason for recent detention was the alleged commitment of a “minor” offense (e.g. running away, trespassing, to protect the respondent etc.) (Tables 5.6 and 5.7). Contrary to many media portrayals of youth and homeless persons, the majority of offenses (83%) for which respondents were detained overnight by law enforcement authorities were for non-violent offenses, and two-thirds of the sample had never been detained for violent offenses.

This is not to suggest that violence on the streets and in communities is not a serious problem. Eighty-eight percent of the Hollywood Homeless Youth Study sample (HHYS) acknowledged having engaged in physical violence, and 76% of the sample disclosed having hurt someone in a physical altercation. Two-thirds of the sample reported having threatened someone with physical injury, and approximately half of the respondents had robbed someone under threat of physical injury. Fifty-four percent of the respondents disclosed that they had ‘been in a gang’ sometime in their lives. Participation in violent activities when living on the streets is probably necessary for self-defense and for acquiring the means for survival.

History of Homelessness

Although cumulative lifetime homelessness was less than one year for 62% of the sample (median of six and one-half months) (Table 5.8), 48% had been homeless at least five times (with 23% homeless more than ten times). Eighty-three percent of the sample had been either episodically or chronically homeless. The range of lifetime homelessness was from five days to seven years. Almost all (92%) of the respondents considered themselves to be “homeless”. Less than 10% of the sample was missing data on homelessness characteristics; therefore, no special analyses were conducted on those respondents with missing data.

First Homeless Episode

Respondents reported that their age at their first homeless episode ranged from 5 to 17 years with a mean of 13 years (Table 5.9); 86% recalled leaving their homes by choice. Half of the sample reported that the event or condition which precipitated their first homeless episode was family conflict; 22% recalled that physical or sexual abuse was the reason for their homelessness. Over two-thirds of the sample was homeless for 30 days or less the first time.

Current Homeless Episode

The range of respondent ages at the onset of the current homeless episode was from 10-17 years with a mean of 15 years. Sixty-five percent of the sample reported leaving home by choice (Table 5.10). Being asked to leave home was positively related to a history of hospitalization for mental health problems and was inversely related to age at first homelessness. Women were as likely as men to be asked to leave home. As with the first homelessness episode, the modal reason for being homeless at the time of the interview was reported to be family conflict (36%). Almost half of the sample had been homeless between one and twelve months during the current episode, and over half reported being homeless with friends. Abandoned buildings ("squats") were most often cited (32%) as the place usually used for sleeping when the respondent could not afford a room or an apartment. The majority of the respondents (60%) had not slept in a shelter or mission in the thirty days preceding the interview; few (16%) rep...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Tables and Figures
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Research Questions
• Methodology
• Results
• Discussion
• References
• Index