TY - JOUR
T1 - Running away during adolescence and future homelessness
T2 - The amplifying role of mental health
AU - Williams, Amanda
AU - Giano, Zachary
AU - Merten, Michael
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Previous research indicates a positive link between youth runaway episodes and the likelihood of homelessness in later adolescence and early adulthood. An adolescent's decision to run away from home often accompanies depressive symptomology compared with stably housed youth. The present study used a large, nationally representative sample of 8,560 youth to identify links among runaway behavior, changes in depressive symptomology during the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood, and homelessness. Results suggest that running away during adolescence is linked with later homelessness across depressive symptom classes. In fact, even a single runaway episode as a teenager tripled the odds of reporting homelessness by young adulthood. However, the magnitude of the association varies based on depressive symptom trajectories. Adolescents reporting high levels of depressive symptomology that increased over time were 6 times more likely to experience homelessness, compared with youth with consistently low depressive symptoms. Interestingly, among participants who reported never running away, this same high/increasing depressive symptoms group were less likely to report homelessness than were peers with consistently low depressive symptoms. These findings point to a potential resiliency process among youth in this category that needs to be further explored to identify differences in youth with poor mental health who leave home verses those who remain stably housed.
AB - Previous research indicates a positive link between youth runaway episodes and the likelihood of homelessness in later adolescence and early adulthood. An adolescent's decision to run away from home often accompanies depressive symptomology compared with stably housed youth. The present study used a large, nationally representative sample of 8,560 youth to identify links among runaway behavior, changes in depressive symptomology during the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood, and homelessness. Results suggest that running away during adolescence is linked with later homelessness across depressive symptom classes. In fact, even a single runaway episode as a teenager tripled the odds of reporting homelessness by young adulthood. However, the magnitude of the association varies based on depressive symptom trajectories. Adolescents reporting high levels of depressive symptomology that increased over time were 6 times more likely to experience homelessness, compared with youth with consistently low depressive symptoms. Interestingly, among participants who reported never running away, this same high/increasing depressive symptoms group were less likely to report homelessness than were peers with consistently low depressive symptoms. These findings point to a potential resiliency process among youth in this category that needs to be further explored to identify differences in youth with poor mental health who leave home verses those who remain stably housed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060920254&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/ort0000397
DO - 10.1037/ort0000397
M3 - Article
C2 - 30702330
AN - SCOPUS:85060920254
SN - 0002-9432
VL - 89
SP - 268
EP - 278
JO - American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
JF - American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
IS - 2
ER -