Understanding organizations for runaway and homeless youth: A multi-setting quantitative study of their characteristics and effects

Runaway and homeless youth (RHY) are young people between 13 and 24 years of age who have run away from or been forced to leave their homes, who reside without parental/guardian supervision in temporary situations, places not intended for habitation, or emergency shelters. Although precise figures are lacking, as many as 2.8 million youth are estimated to be homeless in the U.S. each year. Many of these young people return home within a week, but a substantial proportion remain out-of-home for substantial periods of time, or even permanently.

It is well documented that RHY experience high rates of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, as well as neglect, other traumas, and chronic stress throughout their lifespans. However, they have only minimal involvement in the systems and settings that typically foster and protect young people, such as supportive families, pro-social peers, safe communities, and schools.  As a result, RHY evidence high rates of serious relational, mental health, physical health, psychosocial, and behavioral problems. These problems, in turn, place them at grave risk for adverse long-term outcomes, including chronic unemployment, entrenchment in the street economy (e.g., drug dealing, transactional sex/being trafficked), hazardous substance use, incarceration, adult homelessness, unstable relationships, poor health, and even early mortality. African American/Black and Hispanic young people, those with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other non-heterosexual sexual orientations, and individuals with transgender gender identities are over-represented among RHY compared to the general population. These minority group statuses influence youths' patterns of risk, in part due to aspects of the larger environment, such as youth from these minority groups facing a greater likelihood of being stopped by police among compared to their White, heterosexual, and/or gender normative peers. Additionally, these minority group statuses affect RHY's treatment needs.

Yet in the context of these serious risk factors, RHY evidence resilience—the capacity to withstand or recover from significant challenges that threaten an individual's stability, viability, or development. For example, leaving home is a type of coping response, and surviving out-of-home requires resourcefulness and adaptability. Resilience can be fostered among those suffering adversity through structured interventions and close, supportive relationships. Moreover, experiencing or perceiving oneself as resilient is a potent correlate of persistence, resourcefulness, self-efficacy, and resultant positive behavioral and mental health outcomes. Among RHY, perceived resilience is associated with less suicidal ideation and fewer life threatening behaviors, such as attempted suicide. Perceived resilience may be vital for RHY because they lack the social and organizational resources available to typically developing adolescents.

Publication Date: 
2017
Volume: 
73
Journal Name: 
Children and Youth Services Review