Social support among homeless and housed mothers: an integrative review

Homelessness has been associated with levels of stress beyond the normal strain of living in poverty. For mothers who are homeless, support from their social networks may provide a buffer from some of the stresses associated with being homeless. To better understand the relationship between social support and female-headed homeless families, an integrative review was conducted of 12 research articles that compare social support among low-income housed mothers and homeless mothers, using guidelines set forth by Ganong. The included studies revealed four significant attributes of social support among housed and homeless mothers: size of the social support network; composition of the social support network; contacts with members of the social support network; and perceived support from members of the social support network. Nurses who work with homeless families are in a position to help develop ways for these families to cultivate and maintain their social support networks while homeless. Nurses can be available to offer support, including the necessary mental health services or referrals.     

Who Is Supporting Homeless Youth? Predictors of Support in Personal Networks

Homeless youth lack the traditional support networks of their housed peers, which increases their risk for poor health outcomes. Using a multilevel dyadic analytic approach, this study identified characteristics of social contacts, relationships, and social networks associated with the provision of tangible and emotional support to homeless youth (N = 419, M age = 20.09, SD = 2.80). Support providers were likely to be family members, sex partners, or non–street‐based contacts. The provision of support was also associated with contacts' employment and homelessness status, frequency of contact, shared risk behaviors, and the number of network members that were homeless and employed. The results provide insights into how homeless youth could be assisted to develop more supportive social networks.     

Predictors of Change in Self-Reported Social Networks among Homeless Young People

This research investigates changes in social network size and composition of 351 homeless adolescents over three years. Findings show that network size decreases over time. Homeless youth with a conduct disorder begin street life with small networks that remain small over time. Caregiver abuse is associated with smaller emotional networks due to fewer home ties, especially to parents, and a more rapid loss of emotional home ties over time. Homeless youth with major depression start out with small networks, but are more likely to maintain network ties. Youth with substance abuse problems are more likely to maintain instrumental home ties. Finally, homeless adolescents tend to reconnect with their parents for instrumental aid and form romantic relationship that provide emotional support.     

Social network characteristics associated with risky behaviors among runaway and homeless youth.

Runaway and homeless youth are at high risk for substance abuse and unsafe sexual behavior. Our study describes the personal social networks of these youth and examines network characteristics associated with risky behaviors. In 1995 and 1996, we interviewed a purposive sample of youth aged 14 through 21 who were living in Washington, DC and were identified on the streets or through shelters or other service agencies (N = 327). Although we found that most youth reported current social relationships, a significant minority (26%) did not. Youth without a social network were significantly more likely to report current illicit drug use, multiple sex partners, and survival sex than youth with a network. For youth with a network, the networks were small, strong in affective and supportive qualities, comprised primarily of friends, typically included an alcohol or illicit drug user, and usually were not a source of pressure for risky behaviors. Our results indicate that networks had risk-enhancing and risk-decreasing properties in that network characteristics were associated in both positive and negative directions with risky behaviors.     

Meeting the mental health needs of homeless students in schools: A Multi-Tiered System of Support framework

The number of homeless youth in the U.S. has reached an all-time high and this represents a growing social problem. Research indicates that homeless youth are significantly at-risk for experiencing a range of negative life-outcomes such as school dropout, the development of mental health problems, use/abuse of illicit substances, suicidality, and even early mortality. Thus, effective interventions and mental health supports are needed to help address their complex mental health needs. Fortunately, however, many homeless youth regularly attend school, especially younger youth (i.e., under 13 years old) and youth who are members of homeless families. Therefore, as important members of school communities, school-based mental health professionals can help support these students. With this aim in mind, this paper discusses the use of a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework to meet the mental health needs of homeless students in schools. More specifically, following a public health service delivery model, service delivery is discussed at universal, selective, and indicated levels. Lastly, to address the diverse needs of homeless students, integrated service-delivery across various systems of care is discussed.     

Modeling the dynamism of HIV information diffusion in multiplex networks of homeless youth

Cascade and threshold models are widely used to predict information diffusion in social networks, yet their characterization of networks as static and monoplex limit their ability to accurately predict how information propagates in dynamic, multiplex social environments. Using data from a peer-led HIV prevention intervention for homeless youth, we determine whether manipulating the baseline social network by (1) adding ties observed at later time points, and (2) accounting for alternative relational contexts improves each model’s predictive accuracy. Results show that the addition of new ties improves the performance of both models, while substituting the context of interaction yields only minor improvements.     

Voices of former foster youth: Supportive relationships in the transition to adulthood

As the adolescent development literature has recognized the importance of social supports in the transition to adulthood, child welfare research, policies, and programs have turned their attention to the relational needs of youth emancipating from the foster care system. This study builds on the extant literature on social support among transitioning foster care youth; it goes beyond the sole identification of relational networks, to explore how youth actually utilize their network members, and the overall quality of their support system. This study collects data from twenty qualitative interviews with foster youth, ages 18–21. We analyze the data using consensual qualitative research methods in order to develop core themes around shared youth experiences. We found that while foster youth did identify a wide network of both formal and informal supports during their transition to adulthood, there were “holes” in the form of support, especially appraisal and instrumental support, provided by informal network members. Additionally, an unrealistic perception of supportive and permanent relationships may be contributing to poor outcomes in emerging adulthood. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Negotiating Homelessness through the Saliency of Family Ties: The Personal Networking Practices of Latino and African American Men

Abstract

This paper examines the role family networks play in the daily survival of homeless Latino and African American men. Using a qualitative research design and a semi-structured interview technique, I examine how these men initiate, participate in and maintain kin-based social networks and how their networks function. The analysis is carried out comparatively for Latinos and African Americans. Two research questions guide the analysis. First, how do the personal networks of homeless men operate? Second, how do the personal networks of homeless African American men differ from those of homeless Latino men? Key findings suggest differences in provisions for social support available within the respective networks of these men. Overall, participants commonly activated social capital within their personal networks, through the practice of filial fluidity which relaxes expectations of social debt and obligations and thus, facilitates the flow of resources vital to the well-being of these homeless men. These findings support a more empowering view of homeless men as active, rational and competent actors engaged in negotiating their situations of homelessness by maintaining active family-based networks.     

Homeless Youths’ Interests in Social Action via Photovoice

Engaging homeless youth in services is challenging. Novel methods are needed to better retain and empower this population. Photovoice, an innovative form of community-based participatory research, facilitates participants’ use of photography to document their everyday lives and struggles, while advocating for social change. This study examines, among 22 homeless youth, whether and why youth would be interested in participating in Photovoice activities, the types of social issues youth would be motivated to explore, and homeless youths’ opinions about committing to a longer-term, group-oriented project. Photovoice may represent promise in engaging marginalized and difficult-to-retain populations.     

Comparison of Social Estrangement Among Youth Who Are Accessing Homeless Services in St. Louis,Missouri and Austin,Texas

The purpose of this study was to compare young people seeking homeless services in two distinct geographic locations (Austin, Texas and St. Louis, Missouri). To determine differences between the two populations, the study used a guiding conceptual model of social estrangement that included four domains: institutional disaffiliation, psychological dysfunction, human capital, and identification with homeless culture. A sample of homeless youth (N = 96; 46 from St. Louis, 50 from Austin) were recruited through youth-serving agencies. Findings indicate two unique samples of street-involved youth in regards to affiliation with formal institutions, family support, and informal peer networks, suggesting distinct service needs.     

The Social Relationships and Social Support of Aging Mothers Whose Adult Daughters Are Mentally Ill

Guided by a conceptual framework highlighting multiple facets of social relationships and social support, this study examined the extent to which aging mothers of adult daughters with a serious mental illness were socially integrated with members of their network. It further examined the relational content of these mothers’ social ties as tangible or intangible support and the nature of their supportive exchanges with network members, particularly their adult daughters with mental illness. A structured face-to-face interview was conducted with 22 aging mothers of these adult daughters. Two methods of analysis were used to analyze data: counting and content analysis. Findings showed aging mothers of daughters with mental illness were socially integrated with relatives and nonrelatives, evidenced relational content of tangible and intangible support in their social ties and engaged in bidirectional and asymmetrical support exchanges with network members, including their daughters with mental illness. These findings suggest that social resources in the form of social relationships and support are embedded in the networks of aging mothers who have adult daughters with serious mental illness. Practitioners should assess support contributions to the aging mothers of adult daughters with serious mental illness from a wide range of social relationships including their daughters.     

Enhancing Empowerment and Leadership Among Homeless Youth in Agency and Community Settings: A Grounded Theory Approach

The purpose of this qualitative study with homeless youth (ages 18–24) was to understand their involvement in decision-making within agency and community settings. Three focus groups with eight, six and six homeless youth were conducted at an urban drop-in center and shelter from June to August 2008. Emergent themes include youth voice and ownership in agency and community programming, emotional safety, power and reciprocal support. Grounded theory is used to interpret findings and develop working hypotheses to guide future studies on empowering homeless youth to assume greater leadership involvement in their own lives, in social service agencies and in their surrounding communities.     

Spirituality and Religion in the Lives of Runaway and Homeless Youth

Abstract

This qualitative study, part of a larger study of resiliency, explores the impact of spirituality on runaway and/or homeless youth. Interviews with 19 former runaway and homeless youth were analyzed to explore their experience of spirituality as they coped with the adversity in their lives. Five themes related to spirituality emerged: a belief in divine intervention; having a personal relationship with a nonjudgmental higher power; use of prayer; participation in traditional and nontraditional religious practices; and finding meaning and purpose in life, including a desire to “give back” to their community. Implications for social work practice and research are addressed.     

Stability in the Social Support Networks of Homeless Families in Shelter: Findings From a Study of Families in a Faith-Based Shelter Program

The following article outlines a longitudinal study tracking changes of the social support networks of 28 homeless families in shelter. Weekly changes in support networks of homeless mothers were tracked including 482 dyadic ties between mothers and supportive persons. Findings suggested that informal social support and persons who provided emotional support were significantly more stable forms of support in the mothers' lives throughout their shelter stay. Time was found to be a significant predictor of financial well-being and housing stability at shelter exit, but characteristics of the supportive ties were not. Implications for family social work and research practice are presented.     

The experiences of adolescents and young adults residing with their families in emergency shelters in Canada

Emergency homeless shelters can be stressful environments for families. They can be associated with emotional distress and feelings of restriction for parents, and with behavioural, social, and developmental challenges for children. However, little is known about the experiences of accompanied youth residing in shelter with their families, as the literature about this age group's experiences of homelessness has mainly focused on unaccompanied youth. Findings from the current study are drawn from qualitative interviews with 16 adolescents and young adults (aged 16–21) who were homeless and living with their families in family homeless shelters in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Youth described family homeless shelters as stressful environments but also found that the shelters provided support to them and their families. Youth discussed the various strategies they used to cope in facing the challenges of shelter life. These findings add to our understanding of youth who are homeless and highlight the ways in which they adapt to the challenges of living in a family homeless shelter with their families. Recommendations are included for ways that shelter staff and policymakers can enact operational and systemic changes that could potentially improve the experiences of such youth and their families.     

“I don't like to live nowhere but here”: The shelter as mediator of U.S. homeless youth's identity formation

Identity formation, from a sociocultural perspective, involves people choosing from among the variety of historical and cultural resources available to them for living their values, making a commitment to a particular life course, and grounding their hope in the future. Researchers in the past have argued that homeless shelters provide few such resources for children and youth to form healthy identities. At the same time, these researchers have not examined how young people themselves make sense of the shelters in which they live in the course of their own development. This article examines how children living in two small family shelters in a large southeastern city understand the shelter as a place they call home in relation to their families, friends, and themselves. Implications for the study of identity formation of homeless children and youth are discussed.     

Managing Risk: Self-Regulation Among Homeless Youth

While homeless youth are characterized by their risky behaviours we know little about how they conceptualize and manage risk in their everyday lives. This article will flesh out one aspect of a doctoral study that explored homeless youth’s conceptualizations of risk, by unearthing their self-regulation practices. Deploying an ethnographic lens, 18 youth were followed over a 1–4 year period to capture their risk perception and practices as they unfolded. The findings question the relevancy of the prominence of expert discourses in theories of risk. The study’s empirical findings run counter to the thesis that expert systems predominate in practices of self-regulation. In contrast, practices of self-regulation were not so much in response to expert discourses or social norms but were balanced by personal experience, intuition, and situated knowledges. Results provide valuable insights into the interplay of lay and expert knowledges in the construction of risk among an identified risky and at-risk group. Lessons can also be drawn for clinical practice and the relevancy of the expert role that social workers play in the lives of homeless youth.     

Social support networks of care leavers: Mediating between childhood adversity and adult functioning

Care leavers' social support networks have often been theorized as having a salient role in explaining youths' functional outcomes and the way these relate to their adverse pasts. The goals of the present study are to examine the association between childhood adversity and adult functioning among youth aging out-of-care, and to explore how attributes of their social support networks mediate this association.The sample consisted of 345 Israeli care leavers (ages 18 to 25), formerly placed in residential or foster care. Standardized self-report questionnaires were administered to assess various attributes of youths' support networks (e.g., network size or adequacy) vis-à-vis three types of social support (emotional, practical, information and guidance), indices of childhood adversity, and markers of adult functioning (adjustment to post-school settings, economic well-being, and housing difficulties).Structural equation modeling indicated that a significant portion of youths' functioning outcomes was attributable to childhood adversity. This relationship was fully or partially mediated by social support, across the various types of support and outcomes examined. Network size and network adequacy were the most prominent predictors of functioning; the latter more consistently so. Whereas emotional, practical, and information and guidance supports all significantly contributed to greater adjustment to post-school settings and economic well-being, only practical support was related to fewer housing difficulties.The differential effects of the attributes and functions of care leavers' support networks on functioning outcomes are discussed in reference to social network literature. The paper also presents recommendations for practice and policy with a focus on social network intervention.     

Homeless mothers and depression: misdirected policy.

This paper is a critique of recent service-intensive shelter programs for homeless mothers and the policies that underlie these shelters. We first document the process by which mental health problems and family homelessness became so closely but mistakenly linked. We then demonstrate empirically that shelter programs for homeless families nonetheless presume that mental health problems are part of the causal nexus of family homelessness and indiscriminately deliver mental health services to homeless mothers. Simultaneously, shelter programs encourage the isolation of their residents from what they presume to be their "problematic" social networks. We show that, while mental health services had little impact on depression levels among homeless mothers, isolation from social networks did increase depression among homeless mothers. Our findings suggest that policy should put more emphasis on rapid reintegration into the community through providing housing, and it should put less emphasis on providing services.