The Positive Role of School Climate on School Victimization, Depression and Suicidal Ideation Among School-Attending Homeless Youth

Background:

Although research indicates that homeless youths are at higher risk of victimization and mental health problems, little is known about school victimization and mental health outcomes for school-attending homeless youths. Generally, limited research has been conducted with school-attending homeless youth, as most studies rely on shelter and street-based samples. While the role of school-climate was found to have important implications for adolescents' mental and behavioral health, research on school-climate in the context of school-attending homeless youths is scarce. This preliminary study examines the relationship between school-climate and school related victimization, depression and suicidal ideation among school-attending homeless youth.

Methods:

Multivariate analysis, using hierarchical logistic regression, was conducted to examine the relationship between school-climate factors and school-victimization, suicide ideation and depression tendency. The model was tested with a representative sample of 1,169 9^th and 11^thgrade school-attending homeless youths from the 2012-2013 California Healthy Kids Survey dataset. Homelessness was based on the response “Shelter, car, campground, or other transitional or temporary housing” to current living situation. Perceived school-climate was assessed by items of several dimensions: caring relationships, high expectations, school connectedness, meaningful participation and safety. The responses ranged either on a four or a five Likert scale. To assess school victimization students were asked to report the rate of victimization on school grounds during the past 12 months of items on a four Likert scale.  A composite victimization scale was created, then recoded into two categories (low and high). Depression tendency and suicidal ideation were based on yes/no questions. Control variables included gender, ethnicity and grade.

Results: 

The sample was almost evenly split by grade level (9^th= 51.8%, 11^th=48.2%). The majority of the sample was male (74%) and the results indicate a diverse sample of students by race and ethnicity, 86% of the sample being non-white. Hispanic students comprised the largest ethnicity group in the sample (50.5%) while the other groups ranged between 11%-14%. The sample was almost evenly split by school-victimization (high=49.6%, low=50.4%), suicidal ideation (yes=47.9%, no=52.1%) and depression tendency (yes=46.5%, no=53.5%). The results show that adding the five components of school-climate to the demographic variables contributes significantly to each outcome. High expectation and safety were found to be significantly negatively associated with victimization (B= -.13, p<0.05, OR=0.88, 95% C.I. = .79-.97; B=-.30, p<0.001, OR=0.74, 95% C.I. =.69-.80, respectively). Feeling safe was also significantly negatively associated with depression tendency and with suicidal ideation (B= -.19, p<0.001, OR=0.83, 95% C.I. = .77-.89; B= -.23, p<0.001, OR=0.79, 95% C.I.=.74-.85,  respectively).

Discussion:

The results highlight that school-attending homeless youths are at high risk of being school-victimized, have high rates of depression tendency and suicidal ideation, compared with results of previous studies with other populations. These preliminary findings enhance the need to further investigate this population and to develop school-based interventions. Although school-climate was found to be significantly associated with the outcomes, most components’ associations were weak, with the exception of high expectations and, especially safety. To address the needs of homeless students, schools should focus on creating a safe environment for students.