Street Youth Research Articles

Sexual and Sexual and reproductive health issues of youths on the streets in Zimbabwe: the case of Harare Central Business Districtreproductive health issues of youths on the streets in Zimbabwe: the case of Harare Central Business District

Background: Youths living on the streets of Harare engage in risky sexual behaviours, which exposes them to sexually transmitted diseases, yet they do not have adequate access to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services. The study investigated sexual and reproductive health issues among youths on the streets of Harare’s Central Business District. Data and methods: The study interviewed 202 youths and had components of of in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions. Findings: Almost all youths had engaged in sex and had debuted at very young ages. Educational attainment was associated with current sexual activity; so was contraceptive use with drug use and alcohol consumption. Alcohol exposed youths to prenancy. Unsafe abortions were common among female youths - half had suffered an STI. Youths abused drugs and alcohol. Street youths had poor access to SRH services. Conclusion: Government should extend sexual education to street youths, keep them in school and make SRH services easily accessible to them.

Factors that Promote Resilience in Homeless Children and Adolescents in Ghana: A Qualitative Study.

Several studies conducted on street youth have focused on causes of homelessness, their engagement in risky sexual behaviours and the prevalence of STIs, including HIV/AIDS. Although homeless youth are considered resilient, sparse literature exists on factors that promote resilience in this vulnerable group. Using a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 purposively selected homeless children and youth (with a mean age of 14 years) from the Central Business District of Accra, Ghana. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings showed that a strong religious belief, sense of humour, engagement in meaningful social interactive activities, reciprocal friendship, adherence to cultural norms and support from community-based organizations were identified as factors that help homeless youth cope with the multiple challenges of street life. Strengthening such protective factors could help ameliorate the impact of adverse conditions of these street youth.

Street Youth Labor as an Expression of Survival and Self-Worth

This paper explores the ways in which employment/ labor are situated within the daily lives of Guatemalan street youth. The youth interviewed primarily engaged in informal money-making activities. These activities not only demonstrate the entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, and resilience of street-involved young people, but their need to undertake any number of often undesirable tasks to survive. Findings from this study suggest that such work can provide street youth with greater self-confidence and self-esteem – reshaping their identities as “productive citizens.” However, such work, primarily due to its very public nature, can also re-marginalize young people as “unworthy” and “non-citizens.”

Childhood Trauma, Criminogenic Social Schemas, and Violent Crime

ABSTRACT Utilizing a sample of 400 homeless street youth, the study draws on the social schematic theory of crime to examine if childhood trauma (physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, and sexual abuse) is linked to the development of a criminogenic knowledge structure (CKS) that mediates its relationship with violence. Results indicate childhood trauma is directly associated with the CKS. They also show that it is indirectly related through violent peers. The CKS in turn is directly linked to violence as are childhood trauma and violent peers. The CKS also mediates the relationship childhood trauma and violent peers have with violence. Violent peers likewise mediate the association between childhood trauma and violence. The link between childhood trauma and violence is also serially mediated through violent peers and the CKS. Findings suggest the social schematic theory offers a valuable explanation for the link between childhood trauma and violence.

Assessing Assets Among Street-Connected Youth: New Angles With Participatory Methods in Tanzania

Street-connected adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa have been neglected in scholarly research. Extant literature is largely problem focused. This study describes strengths and assets among street-connected youth in Tanzania, using a participatory, mixed methods approach. Adolescents ( N = 38, 13-17 years) in a rehabilitation center for street youth in Northern Tanzania completed a Swahili version of the Developmental Assets Profile (DAP). They engaged in participatory activities designed to capture multiple perspectives and promote maximal engagement. A subsample of youth ( n = 8) took part in photovoice to elucidate contextual details. Although exploratory, we expected (a) participants would have lower scores on the external versus internal domain of the DAP; (b) qualitative methods would support the DAP and provide complementary, contextual information; and (c) participatory methods would be important for providing varied perspectives and engaging youth in the research process. Results revealed a moderately high level of assets, with strengths in constructive use of time and commitment to school. External assets were higher than internal assets; however, different assets were emphasized across different methods. Overall, results supported the DAP framework. The participatory approaches effectively engaged youth and illuminated the culture and context of their development.

Circumstances of substance use by street youth in Egypt support the case for intervening to prevent adverse childhood experiences

ABSTRACTBackground: Egyptian street youth use substances including tobacco, illicit drugs, and pharmaceutical drugs. To understand the circumstances, including adverse childhood experiences, that place adolescents at risk for engaging in substance use, we conducted in-depth interviews among a sample of Egyptian street children. Methods: From youth residing at or attending Caritas, a non-profit organization, which provides shelter and education to street youth, seven girls and twelve boys, aged 12–18 years, participated in open-ended, in-depth interviews. Results: Eight out of the 19 participants reported family history (early exposure) to substance use; and seven of them were initiated by either a family member (sibling), friend or coworker. Most of the participants reported a history of conflict with or abuse (verbal or physical) by their parents or siblings, or stressful situations at home; they used substance(s) to alleviate their stress. Few attended school, and some were forced to work and help their family. Conclusions: Among Egyptian youth, adverse childhood experiences, such as poverty, child abuse, and family substance use, challenge somewhat susceptible youths and lead them to the path of substance use and addiction. Prevention intervention should be multifaceted, culturally adaptable, and primarily targeting the social environment during childhood.

Police Strain, Negative Emotions, Criminal Propensity, and Criminal Coping

Utilizing a sample of homeless street youths, the paper draws on general strain theory to understand how police contact and perceived police injustice are related to two forms of criminal coping. It also examines if the relationship between the two police strain measures and criminal coping is mediated by anger and depression. Further, it explores if a composite criminal propensity moderator recently theorized in GST influences the relationships between police strains and coping. Findings show both forms of police strain have direct relationships with property crime, while only police contact has a direct relationship with violence. Further, both forms of police strain have an indirect relationship with violence through anger. Finally, criminal propensity moderates the relationship between both forms of police strain and violent offending but not property offending. Suggestions for further research are offered.

Awareness and utilization of female condoms among street youths in Ibadan, an urban setting in South-West Nigeria.

IntroductionFemale condom awareness and use have been poorly documented in sub-Saharan region especially among street youths. This study assessed its awareness and use among street youths.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 964 youths between ages 15 to 24 years old using questionnaires to elicit information. Univariate and multivariate analysis were conducted at 5% level of significance.ResultsMore than half (69.9%) were males and between 20-25 years of age (61.2%). More than three-quarter (81.0%) had initiated sexual activity. Almost half (47.9%) of the respondents have heard about female condoms however only 16.8% have ever seen while 4.3% have actually ever used a female condom. Age, education, current sexual activity and experience of rape attempt were predictors of female condom awareness.ConclusionAwareness of female condom was a significant predictor of utilization of female condoms. There is therefore a need for proper awareness and education on the effectiveness of female condoms.

Cost and cost-effectiveness of voluntary medical male circumcision in street-connected youth: findings from an education-based pilot intervention in Eldoret, Kenya

BackgroundVoluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is a critical component of HIV prevention. VMMC policies have achieved initial targets in adult men yet continue to fall short in reaching younger men and adolescents.SettingWe present the cost and scale-up implications of an education-based, VMMC intervention for adolescent street-connected males, for whom the street has become their home and/or source of livelihood. The intervention was piloted as part of the Engaging Street Youth in HIV Interventions Project in Eldoret, Kenya.MethodsWe used a micro-costing approach to estimate the average cost of a VMMC intervention in 116 street-connected youth. Average cost was estimated per individual and per cohort by dividing total cost per intervention by number of clients accessing the intervention over a 30-day period. Total average costs included direct and support procedure costs, educational costs, and direct research costs. Cost-effectiveness was measured in cost per DALYs averted over a 5 and 10-year period.ResultsThe total cost of the intervention was $12,526 over the 30-day period, with an average cost per individual of $108. The direct VMMC procedure cost was approximately $9 per individual. Personnel costs contributed the greatest percentage to the total intervention cost (38.2%), with mentors and social workers representing the highest wage earners. Retreat-related and education costs contributed 51% and 13% respectively to the total average cost, with surgical equipment costs contributing less than 1%. At a cost of $108 per individual, the intervention averted 60166 DALYs in 5 years resulting in a cost per DALY averted of $267.ConclusionThe VMMC intervention was highly cost-effective in Kenya, despite the additional costs incurred to reach SCY. Further scale-up may be warranted to effectively apply this intervention in comparable populations.

Negalios galia ir jos panaudojimo socialinės pagalbos procese galimybės: proto negalią turinčių asmenų ir gatvės jaunuolių bendros stovyklos atvejo analizė

[straipsnis, santrauka, reikšminiai žodžiai lietuvių kalba; santrauka ir reikšminiai žodžiai anglų kalba]
 Šio straipsnio tikslas yra giliau panagrinėti skirtingų klientų grupių derinimo patirtis – atskleisti asmenų, turinčių proto negalią, ir gatvės jaunuolių tarpusavio sąveikos abipusę naudą per reguliariai vykstančias bendras stovyklas, ypatingą dėmesį kreipiant būtent į proto negalią turinčių žmonių gebėjimus ir jų panaudojimo galimybes. Tikslui pasiekti buvo atliktas kokybinis tyrimas imant nestruktūruotus ir pusiau struktūruotus interviu iš asmenų, dalyvavusių integruotose vasaros stovyklose, kuriose turėjo galimybę sąveikauti gatvės jaunuoliai ir proto negalią turintys asmenys. Apibendrinant tyrimo rezultatus, galima teigti, kad bendruomeninio gyvenimo su proto negalią turinčiais asmenimis patirtis demitizuoja visuomenės įsitikinimus apie šios socialinės rizikos grupės nevisavertį žmogiškumą. Atvirkščiai, jų tikrumas tampa dovana tiems, kurie išdrįsta dalyvauti jų bendruomeniniame gyvenime, ypač daug ankstyvo socialinio gyvenimo sunkumų patyrusiems gatvės jaunuoliams.

How Street Youth Groups Emerge (The Case of a Small Town)

How Street Youth Groups Emerge (The Case of a Small Town)

Strain, Criminal Propensity, and Violence: Examining the Role of the Composite Moderator in Agnew’s Extension to GST

Utilizing a sample of 400 homeless street youth, this article examines Agnew’s recent extension to General Strain Theory and the identification of a composite moderator. Using an amalgamated moderator composed of low self-control, violent peers, and street code adherence, the study investigates how this combination increases the likelihood that individuals will respond to strain with violence. Findings indicate that four forms of child abuse and neglect, vicarious violent victimization, homelessness, and anger are all more likely to lead to violent offending when conditioned by the moderator. Findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are offered.

Pregnancy and abortion experience among children, adolescents and youths living on the streets

The aim of this study is to identify the prevalence of pregnancy and abortion experience, along with associated factors among street children, adolescents and youths in Porto Alegre and Rio Grande, RS, Brazil. The sampling method in this cross-sectional study was Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS), innovative in research about hidden populations. Interviews were conducted with 307 subjects, aged 10 to 21 years. In multivariate analysis, Poisson regression with a robust error variance was used. Most of this sample were males, with no contact with school and family. Almost half of the participants had been on the street for five years or more, spending more than 15 hours per day on the streets. The prevalence of pregnancy experience was 29.3%, independently associated with being a girl, having 10 sexual partners or more in the last year, having a fixed sexual partner in the last year, and being older. The prevalence of abortion experience was 10.4%, independently associated with not living with the family, having more than two pregnancies, and being younger. The high prevalence of pregnancy and abortion experience highlights the need for the development of better sexual and reproductive health policies focused on this population.

Urban assemblage, street youth and the sub-Saharan African city

This paper draws on the explanatory power of assemblage thinking to consider the lives and urban experiences of young people growing up on the streets of sub-Saharan African cities. Urban assemblage is used to articulate a ‘thick description’ of the practices of coping with extreme poverty and marginalisation and to identify the effects of these actions on the construction of both young lives and the city. Focusing on a central idea of urban assemblage as a process of formation/transformation, the paper examines the strategies and performances adopted by street youth to meet their basic needs and navigate complex power and social relationships. Highlighting constrained agency, assemblage thinking is employed to demonstrate how multiple small actions of coping shape the urban experiences of street youth and their transition into adulthood.

Behavioural risk factors for sexually transmitted infections and health seeking behaviour of street youths in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Street youths are faced with a number of health challenges that could be linked to their exposure to the risk elements, accessing medical care including motivation and /or ignorance to utilise available health care. This qualitative study therefore aimed at determining the behavioural risks for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and health seeking behaviour of street youths in Ibadan. Sixteen focus group discussion (FGD) sessions were conducted among 160 street youths aged between 15-24 years. The result showed that most of the respondents had low perception of risk of contracting STIs in spite of their risky behaviours which included multiple sexual partnering, sharing of personal effects, malnourishment and sexual harassment. Most of the street youth could not identify the various types however; Gonorrhea and HIV were commonly mentioned by them. The major treatment regimen for STIs was traditional remedies and drugs obtained from patent medicine vendors. Traditional remedies were preferred by most of the participants and considered to be more effective. Majority of the street youths were sexually active, engaged in high risk sexual behaviours and had inappropriately treated sexually transmitted infections. Development of risk reduction and appropriate sexual health interventions targeted at prevention and appropriate treatment is recommended.

Tobacco use and other problem behaviours among street youths in South Western Nigeria

Tobacco use and other problem behaviours among street youths in South Western Nigeria

Recruitment through Rule Breaking: Establishing Social Ties with Gang Members

Many contemporary violence prevention programs direct concentrated law enforcement, social service, or educational attention toward individuals engaged in violence, and yet, this population is often avoiding this precise attention. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic data, this case study asks: How do street outreach workers form social ties with active gang members? This study identifies three key mechanisms of social tie formation that break organizational rules, but account for how new social relations are formed with street savvy gang youth: (1) Network Targeting: identifying, entering, and extending services to the package of preexisting social ties beyond the eligible gang member; (2) Gift Giving: navigating those social ties when transferring out of pocket gifts to the target to elicit trust and demonstrate genuine investment; and (3) Transportation Brokerage: expanding clients’ social networks by literally driving them to prosocial influences and activities. Discussion of the value and limitations of each mechanism offers insights to urban sociologists interested in the origins of social ties in disadvantaged communities, as well as policymakers designing social interventions for hard to reach populations.

Youth Street Gangs

Youth Street Gangs

To Punk, Yield, and Flail

At the intersection of social practice art and queer failure discourse, performativity pulses with possibility. This article tracks this strong performative force that undergirds theorizations of queer failure, social success, and performance. The author examines Julie Tolentino’s community engagement project, The Magical Order (2014), which brings these divergent discourses together. Her collaboration with Larkin Street Youth Services, which serves homeless youth in San Francisco, explored weaker modes of engagement that bring to the fore the sense of force embedded in performativity. Tolentino and her collaborators renegotiate the strong performative impulse by punking, yielding, and flailing. Punking not only reworks genealogies of performance for social practice but also emphasizes mere survival over successful thriving. Yielding renegotiates how the precariat relate to institutions beyond antagonism, as they succumb to institutional forces without losing a sense of self. Flailing nuances failure as the former tracks the unbecoming and temporary nature of punk survival and institutional yielding. These verbs collectively offer a lexicon that directs us to the limits of both social practice and queer aesthetic discourses, highlighting the need to place these two conversations together in order to rework theorizations of performativity and examine the queer possibility of less.

Drug use, injecting behaviors, and survival sex among street children and youths in Kathmandu valley, Nepal

A disproportionate number of street children use and inject drugs and engage in survival sex as coping mechanisms. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of drug use, injecting drugs, survival sex, and condom use and determinants associated with these behaviors among street children. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 2016 with an aim to sample 350 street children and youths in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Information about sociodemographic characteristics, injecting drugs, sexual risk behaviors, and biological specimens for HIV testing were obtained. The logistic regression model was used to identify the determinants associated with drug use, injecting drugs, survival sex, and condom use during last sex. Variables that were significantly associated with being a current drug user (versus never) in the presence of other variables included being a rag picker (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 3.2; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 1.73-5.9), history of imprisonment (AOR = 2.21; 95% CI = 1.21-4.04), alcohol consumption (AOR = 2.66; 95% CI = 1.46-4.84), and solvent sniffing (AOR = 5.12; 95% CI = 2.74-9.59). Variables that were significantly predictive of injecting drugs (versus never) in the presence of other variables include being 17 years old (AOR = 3.42; 95% CI = 1.11-10.55) and being a rag picker (AOR = 3.5; 95% CI = 1.25-9.75). Variables that were significantly associated with having survival sex (versus never) in the presence of other variables include being 17 years old (AOR = 3.58; 95% CI = 1.31-9.81) and having forced sex (AOR = 9.62; 95% CI = 3.21-28.8). Drug use and survival sex are major coping mechanisms among street children in Kathmandu Valley and are associated with many risk behaviors. Targeted programs should be implemented to meet their special needs.