Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-hw7sx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T05:35:15.371Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social networks, time homeless, and social support: A study of men on Skid Row

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2013

HAROLD D. GREEN ,
JOAN S. TUCKER ,
DANIELA GOLINELLI  and
SUZANNE L. WENZEL
HAROLD D. GREEN
Affiliation:
RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St., P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138, USA (e-mail: hgreen@rand.org, jtucker@rand.org, daniela@rand.org)
JOAN S. TUCKER
Affiliation:
RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St., P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138, USA (e-mail: hgreen@rand.org, jtucker@rand.org, daniela@rand.org)
DANIELA GOLINELLI
Affiliation:
RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St., P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138, USA (e-mail: hgreen@rand.org, jtucker@rand.org, daniela@rand.org)
SUZANNE L. WENZEL
Affiliation:
University of Southern California School of Social Work, University Park Campus, Montgomery Ross Fisher Building, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0411, USA (e-mail: swenzel@usc.edu)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Homeless men are frequently unsheltered and isolated, disconnected from supportive organizations and individuals. However, little research has investigated these men's social networks. We investigate the structure and composition of homeless men's social networks, vis-a-vis short- and long-term homelessness with a sample of men drawn randomly from meal lines on Skid Row in Los Angeles. Men continuously homeless for the past six months display networks composed of riskier members when compared to men intermittently homeless during that time. Men who report chronic, long-term homelessness display greater social network fragmentation when compared to non-chronically homeless men. While intermittent homelessness affects network composition in ways that may be addressable with existing interventions, chronic homelessness fragments networks, which may be more difficult to address with those interventions. These findings have implications for access to social support from network members which, in turn, impacts the resources homeless men require from other sources such as the government or non-governmental organizations.

Keywords

homeless mensocial networkschronic homelessnessintermittent homelessnesssocial support

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Network Science , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , December 2013 , pp. 305 - 320
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Breakey, W. R., Fischer, P. J., Kramer, M., Nestadt, G., Romanoski, A. J., & Ross, A. et al. (1989). Health and mental health problems of homeless men and women in Baltimore. JAMA, 262 (10), 1352–1357.Google Scholar
Burt, M. R. (2003). Chronic homelessness: Emergence of a public policy. Fordham Urban Law Journal, 30 (3), 1267–1279.Google Scholar
Burt, M. R., Aron, L. Y., Douglas, T., Valente, J., Lee, E., & Iwen, B. (1999). Homelessness: Programs and the people they serve . Findings of the national survey of homeless assistance providers and clients. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.Google Scholar
Calsyn, R. J., & Morse, G. (1990). Homeless men and women: Commonalities and a service gender gap. American Journal of Community Psychology, 18 (4), 597–608.Google Scholar
Calsyn, R. J., & Morse, G. A. (1991). Predicting chronic homelessness. Urban Affairs Review, 27 (1), 155–164.Google Scholar
Campbell, K. E., & Lee, B. A. (1991). Name generators in surveys of personal networks. Social Networks, 13 (3), 203–221.Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1997). Community-based HIV prevention in presumably underserved populations: July-September 1995. JAMA, 277 (11), 876–877.Google Scholar
Cohen, S. (2004). Social relationships and health. American Psychologist, 59 (8), 676–684.Google Scholar
Couzens, S. E. (1997). Priority: Home! A true priority? An analysis of the federal plan to break the cycle of homelessness. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 6 (4), 275–282.Google Scholar
Culhane, D. P. (2008). The cost of homelessness: A perspective from the United States. European Journal of Homelessness, 2 (1), 97–114.Google Scholar
Kuhn, R., & Culhane, D. P. (1998). Applying cluster analysis to test a typology of homelessness by pattern of shelter utilization: Results from the analysis of administrative data. American Journal of Community Psychology, 26 (2), 207–232.Google Scholar
Latkin, C. A., Forman, V., Knowlton, A., & Sherman, S. (2003). Norms, social networks, and HIV-related risk behaviors among urban disadvantaged drug users. Social Science & Medicine, 56, 465–476.Google Scholar
Latkin, C. A., Mandell, W., & Vlahov, D. (1996). The relationship between risk networks, patterns of crack cocaine and alcohol consumption and HIV-related sexual behaviors among adult injection drug users: A prospective study. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 42, 175–181.Google Scholar
Latkin, C., Mandell, W., Vlahov, D., Knowlton, A., Oziemkowska, M., & Celentano, D. (1995). Personal network characteristics as antecedents to needle sharing and shooting gallery attendance. Social Networks, 17 (3–4), 219–228.Google Scholar
Lee, B. A., Tyler, K. A., & Wright, J. D. (2010). The new homelessness revisited. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 501–521.Google Scholar
Magura, S., Nwakeze, P. C., Rosenblum, A., & Joseph, H. (2000). Substance misuse and related infectious diseases in a soup kitchen population. Substance Use & Misuse, 35 (4), 551–583.Google Scholar
McCarty, C. (2002). Structure in personal networks. Journal of Social Structure, 3 (1), http://www.cmu.edu/joss/content/articles/volume3/McCarty.html. Accessed December 2, 2013.Google Scholar
McCarty, C., Bernard, H., Killworth, P., Shelley, G. A., & Johnsen, E. C. (1997). Eliciting representative samples of personal networks. Social Networks, 19, 303–323.Google Scholar
McCarty, C., Killworth, P. D., & Rennell, J. (2007). Impact of methods for reducing respondent burden on personal network structural measures. Social Networks, 29 (2), 300–315.Google Scholar
McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act. (1987). PL100-77: U.S. Government.Google Scholar
Metraux, S., Metzger, D. S., & Culhane, D. P. (2004). Homelessness and HIV risk behaviors among injection drug users. Journal of Urban Health–-Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 81 (4), 618–629.Google Scholar
Mitchell, J. C. (1987). The components of strong ties among homeless women. Social Networks, 9 (1), 37–47.Google Scholar
Montgomery, S. B., Hyde, J., De Rosa, C. J., Rohrbach, L. A., Ennett, S., Harvey, S. M. et al. (2002). Gender differences in HIV risk behaviors among young injectors and their social network members. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 28 (3), 453–475.Google Scholar
Neaigus, A., Friedman, S. R., Curtis, R., Des Jarlais, D. C., Furst, R. T., Jose, B. et al. (1994). The relevance of drug injectors' social and risk networks for understanding and preventing HIV infection. Social Science and Medicine, 38, 67–78.Google Scholar
Neaigus, A., Friedman, S. R., Jose, B., Goldstein, M. F., Curtis, R., Il defonso, G. et al. (1996). High-risk personal networks and syringe sharing as risk factors for HIV infection among new drug injectors. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes and Human Retrovirology, 11, 499–509.Google Scholar
Roll, C. N., Toro, P. A., & Ortola, G. L. (1999). Characteristics and experiences of homeless adults: A comparison of single men, single women, and women with children. Journal of Community Psychology, 27 (2), 189–198.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, S. D., Goodman, L. A., Osher, F. C., Swartz, M. S., Essock, S. M., Butterfield, M. I. et al. (2001). Prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C in people with severe mental illness. American Journal of Public Health, 91 (1), 31–37.Google Scholar
Shinn, M., Knickman, J. R., & Weitzman, B. C. (1991). Social relationships and vulnerability to becoming homeless among poor families. American Psychologist, 46 (11), 1180–1187.Google Scholar
Shlay, A. B., & Rossi, P. H. (1992). Social-science research and contemporary-studies of homelessness. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 129–160.Google Scholar
St. Lawrence, J. S., & Brasfield, T. L. (1995). HIV risk behavior among homeless adults. AIDS Education and Prevention, 7 (1), 22–31.Google Scholar
Stefancic, A., & Tsemberis, S. (2007). Housing first for long-term shelter dwellers with psychiatric disabilities in a suburban county: A four-year study of housing access and retention. Journal of Primary Prevention, 28 (3–4), 265–279.Google Scholar
Stein, J. A., & Gelberg, L. (1995). Homeless men and women: Differential associations among substance abuse, psychosocial factors, and severity of homelessness. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 3 (1), 75–86.Google Scholar
Susser, E., Struening, E. L., & Conover, S. (1989). Psychiatric-problems in homeless men. Lifetime psychosis, substance use, and current distress in new arrivals at New York City shelters. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46 (9), 845–850.Google Scholar
Wenzel, S. L., Green, H. D. Jr, Tucker, J. S., Golinelli, D., Kennedy, D. P., Ryan, G. et al. (2009). The social context of homeless women's alcohol and drug use. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 105 (1–2), 16–23.Google Scholar
Wolch, J. R., Dear, M., & Akita, A. (1988). Explaining homelessness. Journal of the American Planning Association, 54 (4), 443–453.Google Scholar
Wong, Y. L. I., & Piliavin, I. (2001). Stressors, resources, and distress among homeless persons: A longitudinal analysis. Social Science and Medicine, 52 (7), 1029–1042.Google Scholar
Zlotnick, C., & Zerger, S. (2009). Survey findings on characteristics and health status of clients treated by the federally funded (US) Health Care for the Homeless Programs. Health Soc Care Community, 17 (1), 18–26.Google Scholar