Maltreated and Comparison Adolescents' Reports of Unstable Housing: Relationship to Delinquency

Background and Purpose: While the effects of housing instability, including homelessness, have the potential to adversely impact health and behavior outcomes at any age, adolescents are particularly vulnerable. Among other things, housing instability has the potential to disrupt developmental processes resulting in increased risk behavior. In this study, we investigated characteristics of maltreated and comparison adolescents, living in the same low-income communities, that were associated with being unstably housing and the relationship of unstable housing to delinquency. This study investigated: 1. How demographics, residence changes, and maltreatment status, were associated with unstable housing; and 2. Whether demographics, maltreatment, residence changes, and unstable housing were related to delinquency in late adolescence.

Methods: Lifetime residence information was collected by self-report from adolescents at Time 4 of a longitudinal study of the impact of child maltreatment on adolescent development. Type of residence was categorized as “always stable” versus “at least one incident of unstable housing”, which included living in motels, churches, shelters, as well as being homeless or in jail. Logistic regression was used to test whether the number of lifetime residences, maltreatment status, and demographic variables (e.g. age, sex, and race/ethnicity) predicted ever having an incident of unstable housing. Finally, using linear regression, we tested whether demographics, maltreatment status, number of lifetime residences, and unstable housing were related to self-reported delinquency.

Results: The 344 adolescents in this study (216 maltreated and 128 comparison) were 18.2 years old on average, 39.8% African-American, 37.5% Latino, 13.08% mixed race, and 9.6% White. Adolescents who were male (OR = 2.41; 95% CI = 1.15-5.04), reported a higher number of lifetime residences (OR = 1.40; 95% CI = 1.24-1.56), were an ethnicity other than Latino (OR = .35; 95% CI = .15-.81), and were in the maltreated group (OR = 3.71; 95% CI = 1.18-11.61) were more likely to have been unstably housed. Being male (β = .14; β = .13) and having an incident of unstable housing (β = .16; β = .14) were associated with both person and property delinquency, respectively (all ps <.05). 

Conclusions and Implications: Child welfare needs to be aware that maltreated youth are at risk for being unstably housed. More residence changes are sometimes associated with more vulnerable family conditions and in this study, more lifetime residences were associated with a youth having an incident of unstable housing. This study found that being Latino was a protective factor for stable housing. Latino youth may have more nearby family members which could lead to more housing options. Keeping adolescents, especially males, stably housed may help decrease delinquent behaviors. The local community, child welfare, and schools should work together to identify youth without stable housing and provide services that help them and their families find alternative affordable housing. More research is needed to identify what experiences precede incidents of unstable housing.