ABSTRACT
Most of what we know from studies of adult homeless populations suggests that the young people we interviewed are at considerable risk of homelessness and marginality as adults. Several researchers have reported that mental and substance abuse disorders typically precede onset of homelessness (Castaneda, Lifshutz, Galanter, & Franco, 1993; Koegel & Burnam, 1987; North, Pollio, Thompson, Spitznagel, & Smith, 1998; Sullivan, Burnam, & Koegel, 2000). Others have linked childhood histories of economic disadvantage, childhood residential instability, running away, spending time in foster care or institutions, family conflict, and sexual and physical abuse to adult homelessness (Koegel, Burnam, & Farr, 1988; Koegel, Melamid, & Burnam, 1995; Simons & Whitbeck, 1991; Sullivan et al., 2000). As the previous chapters attest, the majority of the young people in this study fit nearly every risk factor for homeless episodes as adults. Indeed, the prevalence of early mental and substance abuse disorders, early runaway episodes, and troubled family backgrounds combine for a particularly bleak prognosis.
