Homeless youth in London: I. Childhood antecedents and psychiatric disorder

Background. There has been an increase in the numbers of homeless young peo ple in Britain. Little is known of the health and social welfare needs of t his population. Method. This case-control study compares a random sample of homeless people aged under 22 years recruited from consecutive attenders at two of London' s largest facilities for homeless young people with a contemporaneous sampl e of domiciled young people recruited through general practice registration lists. The homeless and domiciled groups were compared on measures of chil dhood care, education and psychiatric disorder. Results. One hundred and sixty-one homeless people (88 % of those approache d) and 107 domiciled subjects (60 % of those approached) were interviewed. Sixty-nine per cent of homeless and a third of the domiciled subjects repor ted a childhood lacking in affection, with indifferent and often violent ca rers. Psychiatric disorder was identified in 62% of homeless respondents an d a quarter of the domiciled population. A fifth of homeless and 5 domicile d respondents had attempted suicide in the previous year. Multivariate anal ysis suggest that childhood adversity, low educational attainment and the p rior presence of psychiatric disorder all independently increase the likeli hood of homelessness in a youthful population. Conclusions. The evidence presented in this paper supports the hypotheses t hat characterize the young homeless population as experiencing higher rates of childhood adversity and psychiatric disorder than their domiciled conte mporaries. A tentative model is suggested whereby childhood experiences, ed ucational attainment and the prior presence of psychiatric disorder all ind ependently increase the likelihood of homelessness in a youthful population .