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Adverse childhood experiences: are they risk factors for adult homelessness?
D B Herman1, E S Susser, E L Struening
1New York State Psychiatric Institute, NY, USA.
Objectives:
We tested the hypothesis that adverse childhood experiences are risk factors for adult homelessness.
Methods:
We interviewed a nationally representative sample of 92 US household members who had previously been homeless and a comparison group of 395 individuals with no prior homelessness. We assessed childhood adversity with a structured protocol that included a previously validated scale indicating lack of care from parents and single-item measures of physical and sexual abuse.
Results:
Lack of care from a parent during childhood sharply increased the likelihood of subsequent homelessness (odds ratio [OR] = 13), as did physical abuse (OR = 16). Sexual abuse during childhood was associated with a nonsignificant trend toward homelessness (OR = 1.7). The risk of subsequent homelessness among individuals who experienced both lack of care and either type of abuse was dramatically increased compared with subjects reporting neither of these adversities (OR = 26).
Conclusions:
Adverse childhood experiences are powerful risk factors for adult homelessness. Effectively reducing child abuse and neglect may ultimately help prevent critical social problems including homelessness.