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"On her own: Young women's pathways to homelessness
By  Smith, Hilary Rebekah,Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2008"



        Homeless youth are often exposed to troubling conditions including the lack of food, shelter, money, and social support. In order to survive the demands of the street, many homeless young people find themselves engaging in illegal activities; accordingly, many develop histories of substance use, become victims of crime, experience pregnancy, and face mental health concerns such as depression. Despite the severe tolls of living on the streets, sociological and criminological research has often neglected homeless youth, particularly homeless young women. Much of what we do know about young women's homeless experiences has been based on second-hand accounts from males or superficial quantitative data such as broad population surveys.


                     

 This has resulted in a limited understanding of homeless youth, their street involvement and needs, and more specifically the manner in which homelessness is experienced in gendered ways. 



        Accordingly, this dissertation explores the lives of homeless young women, with particular attention to pregnant and parenting homeless teens.
Drawing on feminist pathways research, this study utilizes both qualitative and quantitative methods (in-depth interviews with 50 homeless youth and 11 youth service providers, ethnographic observations, and surveys with 383 homeless youth) to answer the following major 


              

Research questions: 


(1) How do homeless young women view themselves and their homeless situation (e.g., do they readily identify as "homeless" individuals)?; 

(2) What are the sources , extent, and patterns of homelessness among young women (i.e., what are the life events which cause females to become homeless? What are their lives like on the streets?); 

(3) What unique experiences do homeless young women who are pregnant or parenting face, and how are these different from homeless teens who are not pregnant/parenting?; and 

(4) How do homeless young women describe their futures, including their ability to leave the streets?




 Research indicates that young women find themselves on the streets for distinctly different reasons than do young men and that gender has a significant impact on the situations in which they find themselves (e.g., pregnant, involved in illegal activity, being victims of crime, coming into contact with police) and the options that they envision for the future.