title: Social control correlates of arrest behavior among homeless youth in five U.S. cities.
abstract: This study identified homelessness, substance use, employment, and mental health correlates of homeless youths' arrest activity in 5 cities. Two hundred thirty-eight street youth from Los Angeles, Austin, Denver, New Orleans, and St. Louis were recruited using comparable sampling strategies. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression results reveal that being arrested for criminal activity is associated with length of homelessness, history of juvenile detention and incarceration, receiving income from theft, substance abuse, and mental illness. Arrests are also associated with interactions between lack of formal employment income and receiving income from theft and between drug and alcohol abuse/ dependency. Understanding the health and situational factors associated with homeless youths' delinquent activity has implications for providing more comprehensive health, mental health, and substance abuse services.
authors.affiliation: The City University of New York, Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, New York, NY 10035, USA. kferg@hunter.cuny.edu
authors.forename: Kristin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bender
authors.forename: Sanna J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Elaine M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Maccio
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pollio
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D018453:Homeless Youth / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult