Skip to main content

Understanding Youth Homelessness

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Homeless Youth of Pakistan

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Public Health ((BRIEFSPUBLIC))

  • 226 Accesses

Abstract

In this chapter, I attempt to analyse factors that contribute to homelessness in society. A synthesis of multidisciplinary studies shows that homelessness may be understood as a social situation produced through an interaction between structural issues, such as poverty, heteronormativity, and patriarchy, and individual and/or interpersonal issues, such as mental illness, illicit drug use, and sexual/physical abuse within families. I further demonstrate that although homeless young people (HYP) face significant challenges, they improvise with limited resources available on the streets to survive. I then suggest how the theory of capital and social practice not only helps us to analyse contexts where homelessness is produced but also enables us to highlight capacities that HYP possess.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alverdinia, A., & Pridemore, W. A. (2012). Individual-level factors contributing to homelessness among adult males in Iran. Sociological Spectrum, 32(3), 209–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asante, K. O., Meyer-Weitz, A., & Petersen, I. (2014). Substance use and risky sexual behaviours among street connected children and youth in Accra, Ghana. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention & Policy, 9, 45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aslund, C., & Nilsson, K. W. (2013). Social capital in relation to alcohol consumption, smoking, and illicit drug use among adolescents: A cross-sectional study in Sweden. International Journal for Equity in Health, 12, 33.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bahr, H. M. (1973). Skid row: An introduction to disaffiliation. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker, C. K., Billhardt, K. A., Warren, J., Rollins, C., & Glass, N. E. (2010). Domestic violence, housing instability, and homelessness: A review of housing policies and program. Aggression and Violent Behaviour, 15, 430–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balaa, L. (2014). Why insanity is not subversive in Hanan Al-Shaykh’s short story ‘season of madness’. Australian Feminist Studies, 29(82), 480–499.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker, J. D. (2012). Social capital, homeless young people and the family. Journal of Youth Studies, 15(6), 730–743.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker, J. D. (2013). Negative cultural capital and homeless young people. Journal of Youth Studies, 16(3), 358–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barman-Adhikari, A., Hasu, H. T., Begun, S., Portillo, A. P., & Rice, E. (2017). Condomless sex among homeless youth: The role of multidimensional social norms and gender. AIDS Behavior, 21, 688–702.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beazley, H. (2003). Voices from the margins: Street children’s subcultures in Indonesia. Children’s Geographies, 1(2), 181–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bettman, C. (2009). Patriarchy: The predominant discourse and fount of domestic violence. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 30(1), 15–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bird, J. P., Sala, M. C., Hidalgo, M. A., Kuhns, L. M., & Garofalo, R. (2017). “I Had to Go to the Streets to Get Love”: Pathways from parental rejection to HIV risk among young gay and bisexual men. Journal of Homosexuality, 64(3), 321–342.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1984 [1979]). Distinction: A social critique of the judgment of taste. Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology (pp. 241–258). Greenwood.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caton, C. L. (1990). Homeless in America. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crane, M. (1998). The associations between mental illness and homelessness people: An exploratory study. Aging & Mental Health, 2(3), 171–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dashora, P., Erdem, G., & Slesnick, N. (2016). Better to bend than to break: Coping strategies utilized by substance-abusing homeless youth. Journal of Health Psychology, 16(1), 158–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, M. (2008). Childish Culture? Shared understandings, agency and intervention: An anthropological study of street children in Northwest Kenya. Childhood. SAGE Publications, 15(3), 309–330.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelles, R. J. (1985). Family violence. Annual Review of Sociology, 11, 347–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamid, S., Johansson, E., & Rubenson, B. (2009). “Who am I? Where am I?” Experiences of married young women in a slum in Islamabad, Pakistan. BMC Public Health, 9(1), 265.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Jencks, C. (1994). The homeless. Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joseph, M. J. (2016). Is mental illness socially constructed? Journal of Applied Psychology and Social Science, 2(1), 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, I., Corlyon, J., Placa, V. L., & Hunter, S. (2007). The relationship between parenting and poverty. Retrieved from https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/parenting-poverty.pdf

  • Kazi, A., Fatmi, Z., Hatcher, J., Kadir, M. M., Niaz, U., & Wasserman, G. A. (2006). Social environment and depression among pregnant women in urban areas of Pakistan: Importance of social relations. Social Science & Medicine, 63(6), 1466–1476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan, S. (2001). The nature and causes of marital breakdown amongst a selected group of South African Indian Muslims in the Durban Metropolitan area and its consequences for family life. University of Durban-Westville.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, B. A., Tyler, K. A., & Wright, J. D. (2010). The new homelessness revisited. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 501–521.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, S.-J., Liang, L.-J., Rotheram-Borus, M. J., & Milburn, N. G. (2011). Resiliency and survival skills among newly homeless adolescents: Implications for future interventions. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 6(4), 301–308.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Liegghio, M. (2017). ‘Not a good person’: Family stigma of mental illness from the perspectives of young siblings. Child and Family Social Work, 22(3), 1237–1245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayock, P., Corr, L. M., & O’Sullivan, E. (2013). Moving on, not out: When young people remain homeless. Journal of Youth Studies, 16(4), 441–459.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald, L., Dergal, J., & Cleghorn, L. (2007). Living on the margins. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 49(1–2), 19–46.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Murray, J. B. (1993). Relationship of childhood sexual abuse to borderline personality disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and multiple personality disorder. The Journal of Psychology, 127(6), 657–676.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nagelhout, G. E., Hummel, K., De Goeij, M. C., De Vries, H., Kaner, E., & Lemmens, P. (2017). How economic recessions and unemployment affect illegal drug use: A systematic realist literature review. International Journal of Drug Policy, 44, 69–83.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neale, J. (1997). Theorising homelessness, contemporary sociological, and feminist perspective. In R. Burrows, N. Pleace, & D. Quilgars (Eds.), Homelessness and social policy. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noble, T. (1970). Family breakdown and social networks. The British Journal of Sociology, 21(2), 135–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Opalach, C., Romaszko, J., Jaracz, M., Kuchta, R., Borkowska, A., & Bucinski, A. (2016). Coping styles and alcohol dependence among homeless people. PLoS One, 11(9), e0162381.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parton, N. (1985). The politics of child abuse. Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Purser, G. L., Mowbray, O. P., & O’Shields, J. (2017). The relationship between length and number of homeless episodes and engagement in survival sex. Journal of Social Service Research, 43(2), 262–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quintero, G. A., & Estrada, A. L. (1998). Cultural models of masculinity and drug use: “machismo,” heroin, and street survival on the U.S.-Mexico border. Contemporary Drug Problems, 25(1), 147–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reck, J. (2009). Homeless gay and transgender youth of color in San Francisco: “No one likes street kids”—Even in the Castro. Journal of LGBT Youth, 6(2–3), 223–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynoso-Vallejo, H. (2011). Social capital influence in illicit drug use among racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 10(2), 91–111.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sandberg, S. (2008). Street capital, ethnicity and violence on the streets of Oslo. Theoretical Criminology, 12(2), 153–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snow, D. A., & Anderson, L. (1993). Down on their luck: A study of homeless street people. University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spooner, C. (2009). Social determinants of drug use – Barriers to translating research into policy. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 20(3), 180–185.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spooner, C., & Hetherington, C. (2005). Social determinants of drug use. Retrieved from Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyler, A. K., & Melander, A. L. (2012). Poor parenting and antisocial behaviour among homeless young adults: Links to dating violence perpetration and victimization. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27(7), 1357–1373.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, J. (2011). Understanding survival sex: Young women, homelessness and intimate relationships. Journal of Youth Studies, 14(6), 639–655.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yadegarfard, M., Meinhold-Bergmann, M. E., & Ho, R. (2014). Family rejection, social isolation, and loneliness as predictors of negative health outcomes (depression, suicidal ideation, and sexual risk behavior) among Thai male-to-female transgender adolescents. Journal of LGBT Youth, 11(4), 347–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zigler, E., & Hall, N. W. (1989). Physical child abuse in America: Past, present and future. In D. Cicchetti & V. Carlson (Eds.), Child maltreatment: Theory and research on the causes and consequences of child abuse and neglect (pp. 38–75). Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Noor, M.N. (2021). Understanding Youth Homelessness. In: Homeless Youth of Pakistan. SpringerBriefs in Public Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79305-0_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79305-0_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-79304-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-79305-0

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics