A Typology of Transition-Age Youth

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Penn collection
Degree type
Discipline
Subject
Funder
Grant number
License
Copyright date
Distributor
Related resources
Author
Raithel, Jessica
Johns, Eileen
Contributor
Abstract

Young adulthood is a time of transition which poses particular challenges for youth who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, including those exiting foster care. The instability of being homeless puts youth at greater risk of many poor outcomes. Connection to relevant housing resources and services are critical to ensure that young adults have the opportunity to succeed. Better aligning youths’ needs with relevant housing resources can help young adults become and remain stably housed, leading to better lifetime outcomes. This study presents a typology of young adults who exit foster care and residential programs for homeless young adults, including emergency shelters and transitional living programs. The study uses administrative data to follow a cohort of 8,795 young adults, including young parents and unaccompanied young adults from ages 18 through 21, who exited foster care or homeless services. Using sequence analysis, subsequent service use after exit, including utilization of homeless services, hospitals, jail, subsidized housing, and supportive housing, was used to build three-year trajectories of service use patterns of youth. These patterns were then grouped together based on similarity using cluster analysis to form six distinct groups of youth: (1) Minimal Service Use, (2) Later Homeless Experience, (3) Earlier Homeless Experience, (4) Consistent Subsidized Housing, (5) Consistent Supportive Housing, and (6) Frequent Jail Stays. Profiles were developed for each typology to comprehensively, but concisely, describe differences in the characteristics of each group of youth. Models were also developed to determine factors that were predictive of each typology. This typology is being used to inform prioritization processes for housing resources and to better understand how to target programs based on potential pathways of youth.

Advisor
Date of presentation
2018-11-01
Conference name
2018 ADRF Network Research Conference Presentations
Conference dates
2023-05-17T21:28:07.000
Conference location
Date Range for Data Collection (Start Date)
Date Range for Data Collection (End Date)
Digital Object Identifier
Series name and number
Volume number
Issue number
Publisher
Publisher DOI
Journal Issue
Comments
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v3i5.1083
Recommended citation
Collection