NCJ Number
150052
Journal
Youth Studies Australia Volume: 13 Issue: 2 Dated: (Winter 1994) Pages: 31-35
Date Published
1994
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This study used data collected through interviews with 50 homeless young people residing in nine different housing services in Melbourne (Australia) in 1992 to examine the social and mental health problems they were experiencing.
Abstract
The sample showed high levels of suicide attempts, self- harm, sadness, and loneliness, as well as high levels of psychotic symptoms and anger. Most of these young people had never sought assistance from available mental health services and most of those who had did not find the assistance to be helpful. Feelings of sadness and loneliness experienced by these homeless young people could not be directly associated with their psychotic symptoms or anger. These authors attempt to group the sets of problems presented by homeless young people into those related to being disconnected, to experiencing psychotic symptoms, to acting out of anger, and to having low levels of trust. Nevertheless, these sets of problems do not correlate with or predict disturbed behavior, leading to the conclusion that the model of identifying those at most risk and referring them to specialist services may not be feasible for the young homeless population. 1 table and 23 references