Les B. Whitbeck: Mental Health and Emerging Adulthood among Homeless Young People

Excerpt

Homeless. What comes to mind when you read this word? Panhandlers living in cardboard boxes nestled in back alleys, between abandoned buildings, or beneath bridges? Perhaps you imagine the shuffling gait of a bearded man in disheveled and soiled clothing clutching a sign advertizing his willingness to work for food. Or, does your mind conjure up images of older teens living in abandoned vehicles, wandering from one friend’s home to another, wondering where their next meal will come from? For Les Whitbeck it does, and for good reason. With the assistance of his colleagues, in his latest ground-breaking and longitudinal study of homeless adolescents, Whitbeck has produced a seminal and inspiring work that could readily become an integral part of any undergraduate or graduate mental health curriculum. The reader can’t help being impressed with the magnitude and complexities of this study while remaining emotionally moved by the heart-breaking first-person accounts of what life is like on the streets for these vulnerable teens. …