16. Resilient Outcome: Academic Engagement by Youth with Histories of Homelessness

Homeless youth leave school for a variety of reasons, such as lack of family support, frequent moves between homes and schools, and significant life stress. Without a basic education, youth are at risk of limited employment opportunities and poverty during their adult lives. However, some youth are able to participate in school, despite experiences of homelessness. To better understand factors that may promote school attendance among homeless youth, we followed 82 homeless youth over a two-year period, and identified the various factors that predicted whether or not they would be participating in school by the end of the study. The results of this study confirmed previous research reporting high dropout rates among youth with histories of homelessness. The findings of this study contribute to what is understood about the relationship between youth homelessness and participation in school.

Download chapter as an ePub file
For free Adobe e-text software, return to the Table of Contents page.

View the chapter summary

Editor(s): 
Gaetz, Stephen
O’Grady, Bill
Buccieri, Kristy
Karabanow, Jeff
Marsolais, Allyson
Publication Date: 
2013
Publisher(s): 
Canadian Observatory On Homelessness