The Stages of Youth Development and Homelessness

1
The Stages of Youth Development and Homelessness

• Tatiana Glebova and Natasha Slesnick
• Department of Human Development and Family
  Science
• The Ohio State University
• COHHIO presentation, 2007

2
Outline

• I. Problems and issues among homeless youth
• II. Overview of adolescent developmental
  milestones and homelessness
• - physical
• - cognitive
• - socioemotional

3
The Broader Pictureof Youth Homelessness

• Each year (estimation)
• Half a million - two millions youth leave home
  prematurely
• One child in eight runs away prior to age 18
• 5,000 street youth die
• Mortality ratio 11.67 compared to the expected
  mortality ratio of 0.86
• Leading cause of death
• - suicide for males
• - overdose for females

4
Problems and Issues among Homeless Youth

• Mental health and psychological symptoms
• - depression and suicide higher than for
  non-street counterparts
• - connection with parents 1 priority for
  runaways
• History of trauma and current victimization
• Substance abuse
• - runaways are three times more likely to use
  marijuana (43 vs. 15), seven times more likely
  to use crack/cocaine (19 vs. 2.6), five times
  more likely to use hallucinogens (14 vs. 3.3),
  and four times more likely to use heroin (3 vs.
  0.7).

5
Problems and Issues among Homeless Youth Contd

• Sexual risk behaviors
• - survival sex
• - STIs
• - pregnancy
• Physical health
• - poor health outcomes multiply with the
  duration of homelessness
• Gay/Lesbian Issues
• HIV risk
• Disconnection from educational and other social
  institutions
• Delinquent behaviors

6
Street Youth and Runaways (Albuquerque Sample)

• TORA Runaway Youth (N124)
• Average age 14.8
• Females 59
• Average lifetime runs 3.1
• 52 currently enrolled in school

• STAR Street Youth (N53)
• Average age 18.4
• Females 39
• days on the street (in the last 90) 70
• Average lifetime runs 21
• 8 currently enrolled in school (average
  completion 10 years)

7
Street Youth and Runaways (Albuquerque Sample)
Contd...

• STAR-Street Youth
• Average Beck score 21.0
• 92 arrested at least once
• Average days alcohol/drug use 58
• 25 IV drug users

• TORA Runaways
• Average Beck score 13.4
• 17 ever arrested
• Average days alcohol/drug use 50
• 11 IV drug users

8
Street Youth and Runaways (Albuquerque Sample)
Contd...

• TORA
• 25 of the girls pregnant at least once
• Average sex partners 6
• Average age at first sex 13 years
• 4 survival sex

• STAR
• 30 of the girls pregnant at least once
• Average sex partners 17
• Average age at first sex 13 years
• 8 survival sex

9
Adolescence The Transition between Childhood and
Adulthood

• Set by biology but defined and framed by culture
  and society
• Tasks accept a full-grown body, attain emotional
  and economic independence, develop new
  relationships, construct an identity
• In contemporary societies lasts almost a decade
  early adolescence (11-14 years of age) and late
  adolescence (15-20 years of age)

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Physical Development in Adolescence

• Puberty
• rapid physical change and maturation occurs for
  girls (11.5) earlier than for boys (13.5)
• Sexual maturation
• Changing self-image
• Preoccupation with body-image
• Sexual identity

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Cognitive Development in Adolescence (Early
adolescence)

• Capable of formal reasoning
• Can argue more effectively including arguing with
  adults ( proposing, justifying, criticizing, and
  defending a variety of solutions is a practice of
  higher cognitive development)
• Becomes more self-conscious and self-focused
• Becomes more idealistic and critical

12
Adolescent Egocentrism

• Imaginary audience always on stage
• - attention-getting behavior (e.g., loud,
  provoking) and appearance (e.g., cloths,
  hairstyle, tattoo)
• Personal fable
• - a sense of uniqueness (nobody can understand
  me)
• - fantasy stories about themselves
• - a sense of invincibility (risky behaviors)

13
Socioemotional Development in Adolescence

• Identity Development
• - identity formation (Erikson, 1968).
• - local activity settings which help them
  achieve some resolution to their identity crisis
  (theory of social ecology, Bronfenbrenner, 1979)
  adolescents
• Self-Esteem and Self-Image

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Socioemotional Development in Adolescence
Contd...

• Dating and Romantic Relationships
• Families
• - Individuality and Connectedness
• - Parent-Adolescent Conflict
• Peers
• - Friendships
• - Peer Groups

15
Socioemotional Development in Adolescence

• Early adolescence
• Moodiness
• Parent-child conflict increases
• Spending more time with peers
• Conformity to peer pressure increases

16
Adolescent development and homelessness

• Developmental Trajectory

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Adolescence and Homelessness

• Pathways to homelessness as interactions of
  social and individual factors
• - history of trauma
• - economically poor backgrounds
• - residential instability
• - family conflict
• - parental substance abuse
• - legal issues

18
Developmental Tasks and Homelessness History

• Earlier developmental problems
• - abuse
• - a lack of safety
• - mistrust
• - attachment problems
• - negative role modeling
• - a lack of mastery
• - physical traumas

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Developmental Tasks and Homelessness
Individuation and Independence

• Separation from family as coping with non-normal
  situation (e.g., abuse, instability)
• Premature and/or involuntary separation (thrown
  away because of increased parent-child conflicts)
  

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Developmental Tasks and Homelessness
Individuation and Independence

• Risk factors for substance abuse or depressive
  symptoms
• Premature separation or emotional detachment from
  the family
• High level of family conflict with low level of
  support
• Protective factors
• Connection to the family
• Family cohesion

21
Developmental Tasks and Homelessness Identity
Formation

• Stages of self-identification as a homeless
  person
• at risk
• breaking from family (runaway)
• transition to chronicity

22
One Population or Two?
Reintegration to family/community
Runaway Shelter- Based Youth
Homeless Street Youth
2nd population ?
23
Unanswered Questions

• Resilience and Cooping
• Why some youth respond differently to abnormal
  situation
• Complex phenomena
• Prevention and interventions

24
More Questions?
25
Thank you!