Social relationships and vulnerability to becoming homeless among poor families.

Abstract

This study compares social relationships of 677 mothers in families requesting shelter with those of 495 mothers in housed families, randomly selected from the public assistance caseload in New York City. As hypothesized, women seeking shelter had experienced higher levels of a variety of childhood and adult events indicative of disruptions in social relationships. Contrary to our hypothesis, they were more likely than were housed mothers to have had recent contact with parents, other relatives, and friends, although they felt less able to draw on these resources for help with their current housing needs. More than three fourths of families seeking shelter had already stayed with members of their social network in the past year. The data suggest that they had used up potential sources of support before turning to public shelter.

Homelessness in female-headed families: childhood and adult risk and protective factors.

“…However, despite the growing numbers of homeless families, only a few studies have described factors that increase the risk of or protect families against homelessness. [2][3][4][5][6][7] Discussions about the causes of homelessness have pitted structural and systemic variables against individuallevel characteristics, sharply polarizing the issues. The question of why homelessness exists as a major social problem has been confused with the question of who is most likely to become homeless.…”

Revictimization: Advancing Theory and Method

“…Homelessness has been conceptualized as a type of trauma (Goodman, Saxe, & Harvey, 1991). Moreover, beyond the trauma of being without shelter, homeless women experience more violence in their daily lives than the general population (e.g., D 'Ercole & Struening, 1990) and comparable housed women (Ingram et al, 1996;Shinn et al, 1991). Sexual and physical victimization typify homeless women's experiences (Browne, 1993;Wenzel, Lesser, Flaskerud, & Leake, 2001).…”

“…Homeless women were also more likely to report adult physical victimization as well. Shinn, Knickman and Weitzman (1991) compared 677 homeless mothers with 495 housed mothers. The homeless women were more likely to report physical and sexual child abuse, and that they had been physically abused or threatened with violence as an adult.…”

“…For instance, it may be that women who are actually on the streets are in the most jeopardy of revictimization, followed by women in shelters and then those who are doubled up. Individuals staying at a shelter typically go there as a last resort after already staying with friends and family (Shinn et al, 1991), and individuals and families who share their space with those who would otherwise be on the street or in a shelter (sometimes referred to as "informal shelter providers") are typically poor and often on the brink of literal homelessness themselves (Vacha & Martin, 1993). In this case, support should be given to these informal shelter providers to keep themselves and the person who is doubled up off of the street, to prevent literal homelessness.…”

La vie affective des jeunes adultes itinérants : de la rupture à la hantise des liens

“…Selon la recherche, trois types d'expériences traumatiques dans l'enfance semblent tout particulièrement propices à l'émergence des comportements d'itinérance (Shinn et al, 1991) : a) les séparations prolongées dans la petite enfance (y compris le deuil) ; b) les expériences d'abus sexuel et de violence familiale, et c) la multiplication des diverses formes de déracinement dans l'enfance et l'adolescence (placements successifs dans plusieurs familles d'accueil, etc). De plus, les familles d'itinérants semblent éprouver beaucoup de difficultés à accepter l'intervention de tiers (famille élargie, amis, intervenants) auprès de leurs membres, ce qui soulève un autre niveau de déracinement entre la famille de l'itinérant et le soutien social ambiant (Drake et al, 1991).…”