Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T14:14:57.432Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Food insecurity among homeless and runaway adolescents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Les B Whitbeck ,
Xiaojin Chen  and
Kurt D Johnson
Les B Whitbeck*
Affiliation:
University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Department of Sociology, 739 Oldfather Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0324, USA
Xiaojin Chen
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
Kurt D Johnson
Affiliation:
University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Department of Sociology, 739 Oldfather Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0324, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Email [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Objective

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of food insecurity and factors related to it among homeless and runaway adolescents.

Design

Computer-assisted personal interviews were conducted with homeless and runaway adolescents directly on the streets and in shelters.

Setting

Interviews were conducted in eight Midwest cities: Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Kansas City, Lincoln, Omaha, St. Louis and Wichita.

Subjects

The subjects were 428 (187 males; 241 females) homeless and runaway adolescents aged 16–19 years. Average age of the adolescents was 17.4 (standard deviation 1.05) years.

Results

About one-third of the adolescents had experienced food insecurity in the past 30 days. Factors associated with food insecurity were age of adolescent, a history of caretaker neglect and abuse, having ever spent time directly on the street, a small post-runaway social network, and engaging in deviant and non-deviant street food-acquisition strategies.

Conclusions

Based on these findings, our conservative estimate is that nationally more than 165 000 homeless and runaway adolescents experienced food insecurity in the past 30 days. These adolescents are largely hidden from public notice and they are usually missed in studies that address national hunger.

Keywords

Homeless adolescentsHungerFood insecurity
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , February 2006 , pp. 47 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2006

References

1Kann, L, Kinchen, SA, Williams, BL, Ross, JG, Lowry, R, Grunbaum, JA, et al. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance–United States, 1999. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. CDC Surveillance Summaries 2000; 49: 1–32.Google ScholarPubMed
2Grunbaum, JA, Kann, L, Kinchen, SA, Ross, R, Hawkins, J, Lowry, R, et al. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance United States, 2003. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. CDC Surveillance Summaries 2003; 53: 1–96.Google Scholar
3Dachner, N, Tarasuk, V. Homeless ‘squeegee’ kids: food insecurity and daily survival. Social Science & Medicine 2002; 54: 1039–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4Antonaides, M, Tarasuk, V. A survey of food problems experienced by Toronto street youth. Canadian Journal of Public Health 1998; 89: 371–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5McCarthy, B, Hagen, J. Surviving on the street: the experiences of homeless youth. Journal of Adolescent Research 1992; 7: 412–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6Bickel, G, Nord, M, Price, C, Hamilton, W, Cook, J. Guide to Measuring Household Food Security, Revised 2000. Alexandria, VA: US Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services, 2000.Google Scholar
7Whitbeck, L, Hoyt, D. Nowhere to Grow: Homeless and Runaway Adolescents and Their Families. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1999.Google Scholar
8Johnson, KD, Whitbeck, LB, Hoyt, DR. Predictors of social network composition among homeless and runaway adolescents. Journal of Adolescence 2005; 28: 231–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9Department of Health and, Human Services. Protection of Human Subjects, Code of Federal Regulations, Title 45, Public Welfare, Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Office for Protection from Research Risks, Part 46. Revised 13 November 2001.Google Scholar
10Kipke, MD, O'Connor, S, Nelson, B, Anderson, J. A probability sampling for assessing the effectiveness of outreach for street youth. In: Greenberg, JB, Neumann, MS, eds. What We Have Learned From the AIDS Evaluation of Street Outreach Projects, A Summary Document. Atlanta, GA: Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000.Google Scholar
11Burt, MA. Practical Methods for Counting Homeless People: A Manual for State and Local Jurisdictions, 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 1996.Google Scholar
12Koegel, P, Burnam, M, Morton, J. Enumerating homeless people: alternative strategies and their consequences. Evaluation Review 1996; 20: 378–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13Straus, M, Gelles, R. Physical Violence in American Families. Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1990.Google Scholar
14World Health Organization (WHO). Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), Version 1.0. Geneva: WHO, 1990.Google Scholar
15Kessler, R. The National Comorbidity Survey of the United States. International Review of Psychiatry 1994; 6: 365–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16Kessler, R. Building on the ECA: The National Comorbidity Survey and the Children's ECA. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research 1994; 4: 81–94.Google Scholar
17Wittchen, H. Reliability and validity studies of the WHO-Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI): a critical review. Journal of Psychiatric Research 1994; 28: 57–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18Tyler, K, Whitbeck, L, Hoyt, D, Johnson, K. Self-mutilation and homeless youth: the role of family abuse, street experiences, and mental disorders. Journal of Research on Adolescence 2003; 13: 457–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19Whitbeck, L, Hoyt, D, Yoder, K, Cauce, AM, Paradise, M. Deviant behavior and victimization among homeless and runaway adolescents. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 2001; 16: 1175–2104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20Rotheram-Borus, MJ, Parra, M, Cantwell, C, Gwadz, M, Murphy, DA. Runaway and homeless youths. In: DiClemente, R, Hansen, W, Ponton, L, eds. Handbook of Adolescent Risk Behavior.NewYork: Plenum Press, 2001; 369–91.Google Scholar
21House Committee on Education and Labor Subcommittee on Human Resources. Juvenile Justice, Runaway Youth, and Missing Children's Act, amendments, 98th Congress, 2nd Session7 March; 1984.Google Scholar
22Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Throwaway Children in America, First Report: Numbers and Characteristics, National Incidence Studies. Washington, DC: OJJDP, US Department of Justice, 1990.Google Scholar