What happens to homeless and runaway adolescents when they become adults? This is the first study that follows homeless youth into young adulthood and reviews the mental health consequences of runaway episodes and street life. The adolescents were interviewed every three months for three years from their mid teens to their early twenties. The study documents the psychological consequences associated with becoming adults when missing the critical developmental tasks of adolescence. The authors report high levels of psychological problems associated with victimization prior to and after running away. These victimization experiences shape the behaviors of these young people, affecting their relationships with others and their chances of conventional adjustment. Across time, the more successful their adaptation to street life and the street economy, the more barriers to conventional adult life emerge. The distress, including self-mutilation and suicidal behaviors, among this population is examined, as well as the impact street life has on future relationships, education, and employment. Nutritional and health problems are also explored, along with the social and economic impact of this population on society. As such, the book provides insight about why the current prevention and treatment programs are failing in an effort to help policy makers modify approaches to adolescent runaways. Intended as a supplementary text for undergraduate and/or graduate courses on homelessness, high risk youth, social deviance, adolescence and/or emerging adulthood taught in departments of psychology, human development, sociology, social work, and public health, this compelling book will also appeal to anyone who works with homeless adolescents.

Les B. Whitbeck and Dan R. Hoyt begin their report on street children in the Midwest with the statement, "If you live in or have visited even a medium-sized city recently, you have seen runaway and homeless young people. They congregate in certain downtown areas and hang out in malls during inclement weather . . . Mostly, they look like the other kids. . . . The difference is that they won't be going home tonight."This book draws on a study of over six hundred runaway and homeless adolescents and over two hundred of their caretakers from cities in four Midwestern states. It focuses on the family histories of these young people and on the developmental impact of early independence. Street social networks, subsistence strategies, sexuality, and street victimization are all considered, as well as their effect on adolescent behaviors and emotional health.Relying on interviews and data from survey research, and working in partnership with street outreach agencies, Whitbeck and Hoyt lead the reader through the various risk factors associated with precocious independence, beginning in the family and extending to external environments and behaviors. Nowhere to Grow is an emotional account of the cumulative consequences for young people with few good options at the outset and even fewer once they are on their own.

Les B. Whitbeck and Dan R. Hoyt begin their report on street children in the Midwest with the statement, "If you live in or have visited even a medium-sized city recently, you have seen runaway and homeless young people. They congregate in certain downtown areas and hang out in malls during inclement weather . . . Mostly, they look like the other kids. . . . The difference is that they won't be going home tonight." This book draws on a study of over six hundred runaway and homeless adolescents and over two hundred of their caretakers from cities in four Midwestern states. It focuses on the family histories of these young people and on the developmental impact of early independence. Street social networks, subsistence strategies, sexuality, and street victimization are all considered, as well as their effect on adolescent behaviors and emotional health. Relying on interviews and data from survey research, and working in partnership with street outreach agencies, Whitbeck and Hoyt lead the reader through the various risk factors associated with precocious independence, beginning in the family and extending to external environments and behaviors. Nowhere to Grow is an emotional account of the cumulative consequences for young people with few good options at the outset and even fewer once they are on their own.

"The Experience of Emerging Adulthood among Street-Involved Youth tells the story of young people who were street-involved from their early to mid-teens into their 20s, particularly their experiences of emerging adulthood while struggling towards young adulthood and independence. These youth experienced emerging and early adulthood earlier than other youth while living independently of guardians, detached from formal education, and working in the underground economy. After leaving their guardians they were choosing how to be different than their family, learning to cope with instability, enjoying and protecting their independence, and they experienced some satisfaction with their ability to manage. As one youth stated, "away from my family, I learned that I was not stupid." Their success was facilitated by harm-reduction services, like access to shelter and food, that gave them time to experiment with living independently and to practice being responsible for themselves and others. Later they begin to prefer non-street identities, and they began to think about their desires for the future; the distance between their current lives and those aspirations was the experience of feeling "in-between," and progress toward their aspirations was often complicated by past experiences of trauma, current experiences of exclusion, coping with substances, and the mismatch between their needs and available services"--

What happens to homeless and runaway adolescents when they become adults? This is the first study that follows homeless youth into young adulthood and reviews the mental health consequences of runaway episodes and street life. The adolescents were interviewed every three months for three years from their mid teens to their early twenties. The study documents the psychological consequences associated with becoming adults when missing the critical developmental tasks of adolescence. The authors report high levels of psychological problems associated with victimization prior to and after running away. These victimization experiences shape the behaviors of these young people, affecting their relationships with others and their chances of conventional adjustment. Across time, the more successful their adaptation to street life and the street economy, the more barriers to conventional adult life emerge. The distress, including self-mutilation and suicidal behaviors, among this population is examined, as well as the impact street life has on future relationships, education, and employment. Nutritional and health problems are also explored, along with the social and economic impact of this population on society. As such, the book provides insight about why the current prevention and treatment programs are failing in an effort to help policy makers modify approaches to adolescent runaways. Intended as a supplementary text for undergraduate and/or graduate courses on homelessness, high risk youth, social deviance, adolescence and/or emerging adulthood taught in departments of psychology, human development, sociology, social work, and public health, this compelling book will also appeal to anyone who works with homeless adolescents.

Fifteen years ago, Jeffrey Jensen Arnett proposed emerging adulthood as a new life stage at ages 18-29, one distinct from both the adolescence that precedes it and the young adulthood that eventually follows. Rather than marrying and becoming parents in their early 20s, most people in developed countries now postpone these transitions until at least their late 20s, spending these years in self-focused explorations as they try out different possibilities in their education, careers, and relationships. Since Arnett proposed his theory of emerging adulthood in 2000, it has turned into a full-fledged academic field, and the ideas have been applied in practical areas as well, such as mental health and education. The Oxford Handbook of Emerging Adulthood brings together for the first time the wealth of theory and research that has developed in this new and burgeoning field. It includes chapters by many prominent scholars on a wide range of topics, such as brain development, relations with friends, relations with parents, expectations for marriage, sexual relationships, media use, substance use and abuse, and resilience. The chapters both summarize the existing research and point the way to new prospects for research in the years to come.

Provides a summary of current knowledge concerning adolescents who have serious emotional disturbance, in terms of epidemiology, effective interventions, and program models. It will also serve as a technical assistance tool for those who are providing, or preparing to provide, services to these vulnerable youth. Because multiple perspectives are needed to address the problems faced by transitional youth, the authors have attempted to bring together a broad range of information.