HOMELESS YOUTH

Literature Review: Homeless Youth



Literature Review: Homeless Youth

Homeless adolescents often have a greater number of physical and mental health problems than their housed counterparts. They are more likely to engage in high-risk behaviors such as unprotected sex with multiple partners, drug use, and exposure to and participation in violence. In addition to health risks, homeless youth face a number of barriers in accessing health care. These include lack of insurance, a need for parental consent, difficulty navigating the health system, and the attitude of health staff.

Homelessness

Homelessness, whether of an adult, an adolescent or a child, is a fluid state that is almost always a manifestation of generalized poverty and vulnerability. The pathways that weave in and out of homelessness are as numerous as the individuals' lives that define them. In developing countries, economic pressures, war, famine, and natural disasters are common pathways to homelessness among youth. The AIDS epidemic is also exerting an increasing influence on the upsurge in homelessness among youth worldwide. It is estimated that 16 million children will be orphaned by AIDS in Africa by the year 2015, and many of those children will be adolescents who are forced to live on their own in a state of homelessness. In developed countries such as the U.S., a combination of poverty and family dysfunction are proportionately more important reasons for adolescent homelessness. Physical and sexual abuse of the youth by their family of origin appear to be more prevalent and important reasons for homelessness among youth from the U.S. and developed countries than they are for youth from less developed nations (C. Lowry, Street Kids International, personal communication). An additional reason for adolescent homelessness that seems to be particular to developed nations, including the U.S., is the lure of perceived glamour and excitement of living on the streets by some youth. Youth can view survival on the streets as a rite of passage, and seek out this experience. In Seattle, long-term street youth refer to these youth as "weekend warriors" (Taylor Lydon Bougie Johannsen 2004). Anecdotal evidence suggests that the youth who choose homelessness for these reasons are more likely to be from higher socioeconomic status families, and to travel further from home than the majority of homeless youth. They also have more social and economic resources to rely on, and remain homeless for shorter periods of time. "Generation gap" issues can contribute to youth runaway behavior especially when grandparents are raising the youth. Similarly, first-generation immigrant youth can experience "cultural gaps" when they assimilate more quickly than their parents do into American culture, causing family conflict. Counselors in Seattle estimate that one-third of all Southeast Asian refugee families have at least one child that has run away, and many of these youth are never reported to authorities due to language barriers and distrust of police, Rejection and stigmatization by family and community of origin for gay- and lesbian-identified youth are also reasons for homelessness that can lead to more entrenched homelessness, Whatever the reasons for homelessness among adolescents in this country, there is evidence that the experience of homelessness and out-of-home care (i.e., foster care) in childhood and adolescence is a potent risk factor for continued experience of homelessness in adulthood, Regional studies are ...