A risk-amplification model of victimization and depressive symptoms among runaway and homeless adolescents

This report is an examination of a theoretical model of risk amplification within a sample of 255 homeless and runaway adolescents. The young people w ere interviewed on the streets and in shelters in urban centers of four Mid western states. Separate models were examined for males (n = 102) and femal es (n = 153). Results indicated that street experiences such as affiliation with deviant peers, deviant subsistence strategies, risky sexual behaviors , and drug and/or alcohol use amplified the effects of early family abuse o n victimization and depressive symptoms for young women. These street adapt ations significantly increased the likelihood of serious victimization over and above the effects of early family history for both young men and women . Similarly, street behaviors and experiences increased the likelihood of d epressive symptoms for young women over the effects of early family abuse b ut not for young men. The risk-amplification model from the life course the oretical perspective is discussed as an example of the cumulative continuit y of maladaptive behaviors.