Antecedents of physical and sexual victimization among homeless women: A comparison to homeless men

Homeless women experience extensive health risks including physical and sex ual victimization. Few studies that have gathered information on homeless p ersons have reported results separately for women or have compared them dir ectly with men. Research that both investigates antecedents of victimizatio n among homeless women and compares them to those for men is necessary to d etermine whether prevention efforts must be different for each group. We in vestigated potential antecedents of recent (past 30 days) physical and sexu al victimization in a probability sample of 394 homeless women and compared findings to those for 1159 homeless men. As hypothesized, mental disorder, substance dependence, and engaging in economic survival strategies signifi cantly predicted victimization among homeless women. With few dissimilariti es, these characteristics also predicted victimization among homeless men. Although differences in the needs and experiences of homeless women and men must be recognized, both women and men require assistance to establish and maintain safe residences, treatment of any substance use and mental disord er, and alternatives to economic survival strategies that place them at ris k for victimization.