Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

This study tested for associations between childhood adversity, adult homelessness and contexts of developmental risk in households with children. Data were drawn from the 2010 Washington State Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, representative of the population of Washington State residents. Considering adults in households with children, those who experienced higher levels of childhood adversity were more likely to have experienced homelessness in adulthood. Meanwhile, a 10-factor index of cumulative developmental risk was independently associated with childhood adversity and with adult homelessness. Adult homelessness appears to represent a circumstance through which past childhood adversities are brought forward and associated with contexts …

Objectives. We modeled rates of family and single-adult homelessness in the United States in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan regions and as a function of community-level demographic, behavioral, health, economic, and safety net characteristics.

Methods. We entered community-level characteristics and US Department of Housing and Urban Development point-in-time counts for a single night in January 2009 into separate mixed-effects statistical analyses that modeled homelessness rates for 4 subpopulations: families and single adults inmetropolitan and nonmetropolitan regions.

Results. Community-level factors accounted for 25% to 50% of the variance in homelessness rates across models. In metropolitan regions, alcohol consumption, social support, and several economic …