Characteristics of homeless and low-income women.

Abstract

This dissertation examined the characteristics of 213 homeless and low-income housed women in Flint, Michigan. Women from the study came from one of three groups: The first group consisted of 112 homeless women who had at least one child residing with them at a temporary shelter; the second consisted of 51 homeless women who were not accompanied by a child at the shelter; the third consisted of 50 housed women on AFDC who were participating in an adult educational program. Subgroups of the women were compared to see if there was a constellation of factors associated: (1) With being accompanied by a child as a homeless woman; (2) with having lost custody of a child, or never having given birth to a child, as a homeless woman; and (3) with being homeless as a mother. Finally, the prevalence and characteristics of childhood sexual abuse were examined in the sample as a whole. Among the sample of homeless women, there was a constellation of factors associated with being accompanied by a child at the shelter. The women accompanied by children scored higher on a measure of self-esteem, exhibited fewer problems with substance abuse, and were less likely to have attempted suicide, to have experienced a psychiatric hospitalization, to have lived on the street, and to have been victimized as adults. The women not accompanied by children experienced themselves as in poorer health and as having fewer social supports than did the women with children. No such constellation emerged when comparing homeless mothers with housed single mothers, nor when comparing homeless women who had lost custody of a child with homeless women who had never given birth to a child. When the sample was examined as a whole, a disturbingly high rate of childhood sexual abuse was found. Nearly one out of two women had been sexually victimized before the age of 18, and three out of five women experienced intercourse as an aspect of the abuse. The dissertation discusses the implications of the differences, as well as lack of differences, found when comparing groups, and the ramifications of such high rates of childhood sexual victimization among this sample of homeless and low-income women.