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Defining Homelessness in the Transition to Adulthood for Policy and Prevention

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Abstract

Objectives

The present study investigates the nature of homelessness among at-risk youth transitioning into adulthood. Current policies use multiple definitions to determine eligibility for homeless services among adolescents and emerging adults. Conflicting criteria demarcate different thresholds along an assumed continuum ranging from frequent mobility to living on the streets. Multiple eligibility criteria impede cohesive service provision and prevention efforts. Little research tests this continuum conceptualization, while developmental research suggests subgroups better capture homelessness in emerging adulthood. The present study leveraged prospective data on a national sample of child welfare-involved adolescents—a population vulnerable to homelessness in emerging adulthood.

Methods

Youth report experiences of housing instability and homelessness 18–36 months after child welfare investigation, as well as adaptive functioning in multiple behavioral domains. Latent variable analyses test for a continuum of housing insecurity with reliable thresholds versus a typology capturing subgroups of co-occurring patterns of housing instability.

Results

Results show little support for a continuum of risk; instead, three subgroups of housing instability emerge. The largest group, ‘Stably Dependent’ (83%) youth, live with family without attaining education and employment experiences necessary for independence. A smaller group labeled ‘Transients’ (12%) exhibit multiple housing and behavior problems typical of runaway youth. The smallest group, ‘Unstably Independent’ (5%), youth struggled to maintain housing in the absence of supportive adults.

Conclusions

Findings affirm a developmental conceptualization of homelessness and identify opportunities for screening and prevention.

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Author Contributions

PJF conceptualized and designed the study, conducted data analyses, and contributed writing to the introduction, methods, results, and discussion. KEM assisted with designing the study and contributed writing the introduction, methods, and discussion. JZ and OD assisted with study design, analysis, and provided feedback on the manuscript draft. JL contributed to conceptualizing the study and provided feedback on the written draft.

Funding

The project described was supported by Award Number R03HD066066 (PI Fowler) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Of Child Health & Human Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Of Child Health & Human Development or the National Institutes of Health. The project described was also supported by Grant Number T32MH019960 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health or the National Institutes of Health

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Patrick J. Fowler

  2. University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA

    Katherine E. Marcal

  3. Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Jinjin Zhang

  4. RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

    Orin Day

  5. Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene, OR, USA

    John Landsverk

Authors
  1. Patrick J. Fowler
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  2. Katherine E. Marcal
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  3. Jinjin Zhang
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  4. Orin Day
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  5. John Landsverk
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick J. Fowler.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The paper has been submitted only to Prevention Science and has not been published previously.

Ethical Approval

Research Involving Human Participants and/or Animals: The present study used secondary data from a parent study, NSCAW II. Study procedures were approved by the RTI, International Institutional Review Board. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. For this type of study formal consent is not required.

Informed Consent

Caregivers of youth younger than age 18 provided consent for participation. Young adults (over age 18) provided consent for their own interviews. The project team developed consent and data linkage forms appropriate for youth adults over age 18.

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Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendices

Appendix I

Exploratory Multinomial Regressions Predicting Latent Class Membership

 

Unstably independent

Transient

 

OR

95% CI

p

OR

95% CI

p

Youth demographics

Age

1.05

0.64

1.73

1.00

1.83

1.08

3.11

0.10

Female

2.78

0.89

8.62

0.31

5.13

0.49

54.27

0.70

Minority race

2.24

0.76

6.61

0.58

0.88

0.31

2.52

1.00

Youth behavior

Internalizing

0.89

0.84

0.95

0.00

0.93

0.87

0.99

0.13

Externalizing

1.06

1.00

1.11

0.14

1.11

1.04

1.18

0.01

Protective factors

0.60

0.37

0.96

0.14

2.91

0.91

9.28

0.28

Total delinquent acts

0.97

0.90

1.04

1.00

0.95

0.87

1.03

0.84

Deviant peer affiliation

1.02

0.88

1.18

1.00

1.08

0.98

1.20

0.41

Substance abuse

1.10

0.81

1.51

1.00

1.28

0.93

1.77

0.51

Child welfare characteristics

Ever placed in foster care

0.90

0.36

2.27

1.00

1.14

0.30

4.37

1.00

Reason for investigation

Physical abuse

0.84

0.30

2.34

1.00

1.66

0.34

8.06

1.00

Sexual abuse

0.22

0.02

2.85

1.00

1.81

0.34

9.79

1.00

Neglect

0.87

0.29

2.56

1.00

2.37

0.57

9.96

0.95

County characteristics

Urban county

0.36

0.09

1.44

0.60

1.07

0.18

6.50

1.00

Total population

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

Child poverty rate

1.03

0.93

1.14

1.00

0.90

0.77

1.06

0.80

Unemployment rate

0.66

0.36

1.23

1.00

1.08

0.46

2.51

1.00

  1. Reference group is Stably Dependent subgroup. Separate regressions tested each set of predictors
  2. OR odds ratio, CI confidence interval, p probability of differences corrected for multiple comparisons
  3. Bold values indicates statistically significant values at p < 0.05

Appendix II

Estimated probabilities of housing insecurity with standard errors and significance tests in the transition to adulthood by subgroup

  

Unstably independent, 4.8%

Transient, 12.1%

 

Stably dependent, 83.1%

 

OR

SE

p

OR

SE

p

OR

SE

p

Difficulty paying rent

0.88

0.20

0.00

0.90

0.10

0.00

0.00

0.01

0.60

Evicted

0.00

0.00

1.00

0.79

0.15

0.01

0.00

0.00

0.29

Stayed with a relative

0.05

0.06

0.43

0.91

0.08

0.00

0.68

0.04

0.00

Stayed with a friend

0.00

0.00

1.00

0.74

0.17

0.00

0.38

0.05

0.00

Mobility

0.89

0.16

0.00

0.74

0.17

0.00

0.13

0.04

0.00

Lived on the streets

0.00

0.00

1.00

0.22

0.16

0.00

0.04

0.02

0.02

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Fowler, P.J., Marcal, K.E., Zhang, J. et al. Defining Homelessness in the Transition to Adulthood for Policy and Prevention. J Child Fam Stud 28, 3051–3061 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01480-y

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