NCJ Number
215918
Journal
Youth & Society Volume: 37 Issue: 4 Dated: June 2006 Pages: 393-422
Date Published
June 2006
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This study sought to confirm and evaluate the transferability of the core model of suicidality, with the trapped experience as a key mediator in suicide among homeless youth and investigated variables highlighted in a larger body of literature.
Abstract
Overall, homeless youth at risk for suicide appear to have had experiences at home and on the streets that were socially isolating and disempowering and leading to lives marked with the perception of no control over their circumstances, loneliness, and low self-esteem. There is the feeling of being trapped. The feeling of being trapped increases the risk of suicide. This study, as well as the previous study from which this study was based, suggests that a core component of working with these youth, particularly those considering suicide, will revolve around allowing them opportunities to experience mastery and community and through those experiences, to improve their self-esteem. Effective work with these youth will require interventions addressing the psychological factors discussed and changes at various policy levels to create the spaces and opportunities to improve psychological functioning. Research and accounts of the lives of homeless and street-involved youth describe extensive past and current victimization and risk behaviors expressed as both harm to self and harm to the property and persons of others. Suicidality has been a major focus within this body of research. A number of factors have been identified as indicators of heightened suicide risk within this group of youth. Surveys were completed by 208 homeless youths on the streets and in agencies in New York City and Toronto in an attempt to confirm a previous research model which emphasized the importance of feeling trapped or helpless. References