Abstract
Objectives: The relationships among youth (<24 years) versus adult (>24 years) homelessness onset, lifetime serious mental illness, and substance use problems is not well understood. We sought to explore these associations among 394 homeless adults, 124 of whom reported youth-onset homelessness. Methods: Covariate-adjusted logistic regression analyses evaluated the associations among homelessness onset, serious mental illness, and self-reported substance use problems. Results: Youth-onset homelessness was associated with greater likelihood of serious mental illness and sedative problems, and a lower likelihood of cocaine problems, in adjusted analyses (p values <.04). Conclusions: Serious mental illness and sedative problems may characterize homeless youth who are vulnerable to adulthood homelessness, although longitudinal cohort studies are needed to explicate temporal relations between variables.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 549-555 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | American journal of health behavior |
Volume | 39 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 1 2015 |
Keywords
- Adult-onset homelessness
- Chronic homelessness
- Cocaine use problems
- Early-onset homelessness
- Sedative use problems
- Serious mental illness
- Substance abuse
- Youth-onset homelessness
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Social Psychology
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health