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Children, adolescents rarely self-report delinquency as cause of homelessness
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Causes for street involvement or homelessness as reported by children and adolescents were more often related to poverty, abuse and family conflict when compared with delinquency, according to recent research in JAMA Pediatrics.
“Street-connected children and youth most frequently reported poverty, family conflict, and abuse as their reasons for street involvement and infrequently identified delinquent behaviors as a reason for their circumstances,” Lonnie Embleton, MPH, of the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto, and colleagues wrote. “Children and youth’s self-reported reasons for street involvement indicate that they are in extremely difficult circumstances and require support, protection, and policies to mitigate their street involvement.”
The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 49 studies that contained data related to reasons for youth street involvement. The study population consisted of 13,559 children and young adults aged 1 to 24 years from 24 countries. The data were analyzed by two independent reviewers and statistical analysis was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of each reason for street involvement. Further analysis was conducted to estimate associations with development level and geographic region. The researchers categorized self-reported reasons into six groups: poverty, abuse, family conflict, delinquency, psychosocial health and other.
Study results indicated that poverty was the most commonly self-reported reason for street involvement and homelessness, with an estimated prevalence of 39% (95% CI, 29-51). Family conflict (32%) and abuse (26%) were the next most common reasons, with delinquency cited least often (10%).
The researchers said that in developing countries, poverty was the most common answer given, while in developed countries, family conflict was more prevalent.
“There is an urgent need for international collaborations among researchers, policymakers, stakeholders and organizations working with street-connected children and youth to formulate strategies to prevent them from turning to the streets and assist those already involved in street life,” Embleton and colleagues wrote. “They require support and protection, and governments globally are called on to reduce the socioeconomic inequities that cause children and youth to turn to the streets in the first place, in all regions of the world.”
In a related editorial, Colette L. Auerswald, MD, MS, and Ariella Goldblatt, MS, both of the University of California Berkeley–University of California San Francisco Joint Medical Program, wrote that Embleton and colleagues’ research did a “great service” and will help to advance child advocacy.
“Through the continued wise use of existing data, the systematic undermining of stigma and increased attention to street-connected children and youth whose primary source of poor health is our own indifference, we can fulfill the promise of the Convention of the Rights of the Child that, ‘[Each] child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society, and brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity,’ ” Auerswald and Goldblatt wrote. – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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