The impact of childhood residential stability on adult homelessness and mental health.
详细信息
文摘
Over the last 20 years, homeless families have increased dramatically in the United States. Literature on homelessness has traditionally focused on single men/adults with severe mental illness. Using data collected for a local mental health organization and social service agency providing trauma and case management services to homeless mothers with a history of trauma, my goal is to determine whether group home, foster care stays and episodes of homelessness prior to 18 years of age would increase the likelihood of respondents lifetime number of times homeless, number of traumatic events over ones lifetime and depression 30 days prior to the interview. My thesis study offers insight to homeless families, primarily single mothers with a history of trauma. Using multiple linear regressions, findings reveal that independent variables, group home stays and homeless prior to 18 were predictors of the number of times homeless over ones lifetime and the number of traumatic events an individual experienced over ones lifetime. If an individual was homeless prior to 18 or lived in a group home they were likely to have a higher number of times homeless and a higher number of traumatic events experienced over their lifetime. Similarly if an individual had lived in a group home, they were also likely to experience a higher number of days depressed over the past 30 days during the baseline interview. Contrary to my hypotheses, foster care stays were not a significant predictor of any of the dependent variables.