Feature Story

July 29, 2009

Study finds significant number of kids experience family homelessness

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A new multisite study by UCLA and RAND Corp. researchers and colleagues has found that 7 percent of fifth-graders and their families have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives and that the occurrence is even higher — 11 percent — for African American children and those from the poorest households.

The study also found that children who had experienced homelessness at some point during their lives were significantly more likely to have an emotional, behavioral or developmental problem; were more likely to have witnessed serious violence with a knife or a gun; and were more likely to have received mental health care.

The research is the first population-based study to describe the lifetime prevalence of family homelessness among children and its association with health and health care.

The findings will be published in the August issue of the American Journal of Public Health and are currently available online by subscription.

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