Newly Homeless Youth Typically Return Home

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2006.12.017

Journal of Adolescent Health

Volume 40, Issue 6, June 2007, Pages 574-576

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2006.12.017 Get rights and content

Abstract

Newly homeless adolescents from Melbourne, Australia (n = 165) and Los Angeles, United States (n = 261) were surveyed and followed for 2 years. Most newly homeless adolescents returned home (70% U.S., 47% Australia) for significant amounts of time (39% U.S., 17% Australia more than 12 months) within 2 years of becoming homeless.

Section snippets

Methods

Each newly homeless youth was identified by an interviewer conducting a 13-item screening that established whether the youth: 1) was aged 12 to 20 years; 2) had spent at least 2 consecutive nights away from home (after being ejected or leaving without a guardian’s permission); and 3) had lived away from home for less than 6 months. Time away rather than number of homeless episodes defined a newly homeless adolescent as determined from conversations with service providers. The sampling procedure

Results

Newly homeless youth in Los Angeles were significantly more likely to return home than youth in Melbourne (χ² = 12.8, p < .001, controlling for age and gender) (Figure 1). Within 6 months, 30% returned home in Los Angeles, but only 9% returned home in Melbourne. After 6 months, the rate of returning home was similar across sites (χ² = 3.7, p > .05). In the follow-up period, 29% of Los Angeles youth and 53% of Melbourne youth did not return home; 31% spent 1 to 11 consecutive months at home in

Discussion

More newly homeless youth in Los Angeles returned home within 24 months compared with youth in Melbourne. One of the limitations of this study was the slightly different recruitment procedures across sites. Some cross-country differences could have resulted; however, elsewhere we have demonstrated that similar levels of industrialization do not lead to similar experiences for homeless youth [5]. To the contrary, fewer youth entered into homelessness in Australia relative to the United States,

Acknowledgment

National Institute of Mental Health grants #1ROI MH49958-04 and P30MH58107 supported this study.

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Citation Excerpt :
Many of these items capture “runaway” experiences as well as chronic homelessness [4]. With these items alone, no distinction between the two states can be made and research has shown that most newly homeless youth return home after relatively short stays on the street [21]. These items, however limited, remain the best items used to estimate the prevalence of youth homelessness to date.
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Adolescent health briefNewly Homeless Youth Typically Return Home

Abstract

Section snippets

Methods

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgment

Unaccompanied and Homeless Youth: Review of the Literature (1995–2005)

Runaway/Throwaway Children: National Estimates and CharacteristicsNISMART bulletin series (Doc. NCJ 196469)

The prevalence of homelessness among adolescents in the United States

Am J Public Health

Adolescent health brief
Newly Homeless Youth Typically Return Home