NCJ Number
147491
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1993) Pages: 135-152
Date Published
1993
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study compared the subsistence strategies of 156 homeless adolescents and 319 homeless adults by exploring their backgrounds of abuse, adaptations to street life, and rates of criminal victimization while on the street.
Abstract
These results suggest that a history of abuse and adaptive strategies may exacerbate potential risk of victimization of homeless people. While homeless adolescents were more likely to report abuse than their adult counterparts, the rate of abuse among homeless adults was substantially higher than national projections. The results support other evidence that suggests dysfunctional families and abusive parenting lead to antisocial behaviors among youngsters. Child abuse sets off a negative chain of events which results in a generalization of aggressive interaction patterns across situations. Because aggressive responses evoke aggression from other people, the behaviors become self- reinforcing. While the effects of an abusive history on boys increases antisocial interactions that in turn increase their potential for victimization, for females, the pattern is more tied to deviant subsistence activities that increase the likelihood of victimization. 5 tables, 3 figures, and 36 references