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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

David Pollio, PhD¹, Sanna Thompson, PhD², Kimberly Bender, MSW², Sarah Hunter¹, Jennifer McClendon, MSW¹, and Brian McKean¹. (1) Washington University, Campus Box 1196, St Louis, MO 63130-4899, 3149357516, depollio@wustl.edu, (2) School of Social Work, University of Texas, 1717 West 6th Street, Suite 335, Austin, TX 78703

Introduction: Homeless “street” youth research has been limited to studies in single cities, service evaluations, and qualitative approaches. While findings suggest that (a) youth in runaway crisis shelters significantly differ across regions and (b) transience is critical in lives of street youth, these issues have received little systematic attention. This presentation provides new evidence concerning the role of transience and mental health on service-using street youth through comparing youth in two diverse urban areas.

Methods: Street youth from St. Louis, Missouri (n=46) and Austin, Texas (n=50) were recruited from drop-in shelters, outreach, and street locations using comparable recruitment strategies. Youth were interviewed for transience (using event-history methods) and mental health (depression, PTSD, and alcohol/substance abuse/dependence). Locations were mapped using GIS (ArcView) and cities compared using chi-square, ANOVA, and multiple regressions.

Results: For transience, no Austin youth had originated there, while over 90% of St. Louis youth were currently living in their originating city. Austin youth lived in many more cities and moved more often and greater distances than St. Louis youth. Austin youth were three times more likely to have substance-related diagnoses (75% vs. 25%), but one-third less likely to have an affective disorder (17% vs. 57%).

Discussion: Findings strongly affirm the differences between the two cities and suggest that different cities have distinct street youth populations. Given that federal policy assumes a homogeneous population (e.g., funding the same service models), findings of differences in these issues suggests the need to examine city populations separately in determining optimal service configurations.

Learning Objectives: After conclusion of the session participants will be able to

• Discuss differences in transience and mental health patterns in street youth between two urban settings;
• Identify how differences in mental health and transience impacts on service configurations and needs in specific urban settings;
• Articulate how transience can be conceptualized and analyzed using GIS and ArcView software.

Keywords: Runaways, Adult and Child Mental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation