Employment and Other Income Sources Among Homeless Youth

• Published in: The Journal of primary prevention Vol. 39; no. 3; pp. 247 - 262
• Main Authors: Slesnick, Natasha, Zhang, Jing, Yilmazer, Tansel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-06-2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavior; Community and Environmental Psychology; Drug use; Employment; Employment Services; Health Psychology; Homeless People; Housing; Income; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental Health; Mental health services; Original Paper; Prostitution; Public Health; Runaways; Substance abuse treatment; Teenagers; Unemployment; Young adults; Youth employment; Outreach intervention; Employment; Homeless youth; Income
• ISSN: 0278-095X; 1573-6547
• DOI: 10.1007/s10935-018-0511-1

Homeless youth report high rates of unemployment. While homeless serving agencies usually offer employment services, most homeless youth are disengaged from homeless service agencies, and a limited number of studies have examined employment and other income sources among service disconnected youth. Our study examined income sources and change in income among service disconnected youth, all of whom received Strengths-Based Outreach and Advocacy (SBOA,
N
 = 79). Findings revealed that over time employment and legal income from non-survival behaviors increased (e.g., governmental assistance and receiving income from friends and relatives), while income from survival behaviors decreased (e.g., prostitution, stealing, selling possessions, selling blood or plasma). Although unemployment among these youth remained high (62%), income from survival behaviors reduced most drastically. Findings also suggest that employment is linked to housing stability and mental health, as is substance use and income, which suggests that mental health, housing, and substance use treatment services are important components in income stabilization for homeless youth.