Homeless Outreach Projects for Single Parent Families: What Happens to the Children?

This article provides an overview of the changing nature of family homelessness in the US and Canada, the current literature on homeless families and their children, and reports on a Canadian example of community-based research on family homelessness. This research shows that poverty, family violence, a history of abuse and problems with mental health and substance misuse are the dominant factors that contribute to family homelessness. The research also shows that the children of homeless families face grave risks, and makes explicit the need for immediate policy and practice initiatives to end family homelessness

On the complex relationship between resilience and hair cortisol levels in adolescence despite parental physical abuse: a fourth wave of resilience research

IntroductionTo understand the family’s role in adolescents’ mental health development and the connection to neurodevelopmental disorders related to experienced parental physical abuse, we first explored resilience pathways longitudinally and secondly, connected the identified patterns to adolescents’ hair cortisol levels that are rooted in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis as the main stress response system and connected brain structure alterations.MethodsWe analyzed longitudinal online questionnaire data for three consecutive high school years (from seventh to ninth grade) and four survey waves from a representative sample of n = 1609 high school students in Switzerland on violence–resilience pathways. Furthermore, we collected students’ hair samples from a subsample of n = 229 at survey wave 4. About 30% of the participating adolescents had been physically abused by their parents. Out of the overall sample, we drew a subsample of adolescents with parental abuse experiences (survey wave 1 n = 509; survey wave 2 n = 506; survey wave 3 n = 561; survey wave 4 n = 560).ResultsDespite the odds, about 20–30% of adolescents who have experienced parental physical abuse escaped the family violence cycle and can be called resilient. By applying a person-oriented analytical approach via latent class and transition analysis, we longitudinally identified and compared four distinct violence–resilience patterns. We identified violence resilience as a multidimensional latent construct, which includes hedonic and eudaimonic protective and risk indicators. Because resilience should not solely be operationalized based on the lack of psychopathology, our latent construct included both feeling good (hedonic indicators such as high levels of self-esteem and low levels of depression/anxiety and dissociation) and doing well (eudaimonic indicators such as high levels of self-determination and self-efficacy as well as low levels of aggression toward peers).DiscussionThe present study confirmed that higher cortisol levels significantly relate to the comorbid pattern (internalizing and externalizing symptoms), and further confirmed the presence of lasting alterations in brain structures. In this way, we corroborated the insight that when studying the resilience pathways and trajectories of abused adolescents, biological markers such as hair cortisol significantly enhance and deepen the understanding of the longitudinal mechanisms of psychological markers (e.g., self-determination, self-esteem, self-efficacy) that are commonly applied in questionnaires

Youth Friendly Needs Assessment

This paper describes the development of a needs assessment guide that is user-friendly, facilitates the development of the youth-counselor relationship, and is sensitive to gender, sexual orientation and cultural diversity. Through a three-phase collaborative process with counselors and youth, the major issues in needs assessment were uncovered and a youth sensitive needs assessment guide that supports a strong positive working alliance between counselor and youth was developed. The project highlights the importance of involving youth in assessing their own needs. Suggestions for supporting workers in needs assessment activities are provided. The needs assessment guide and background information on the development project are available on-line at http://web.uvic.ca/cyc/natyCet article décrit l'élaboration d'un guide d'évaluation des besoins d'utilisation facile, qui contribue à établir des relations efficaces entre les jeunes et les conseillers et conseillères, et qui tient compte des différences entre les sexes, de l'orientation sexuelle et de la diversité culturelle. Par le biais d'un processus de collaboration à trois phases entre les conseillers et conseillères et les jeunes, les questions principales relatives à l'évaluation des besoins ont été identifiées. Celles-ci ont servi à la conception d'un guide d'évaluation des besoins axé sur les jeunes et favorisant la création de relations fructueuses et positives entre les conseillers et conseillères et les jeunes. Ce projet souligne l'importance d'impliquer les jeunes dans l'évaluation de leurs propres besoins. Des suggestions sont offertes pour appuyer les praticien(ne)s dans l'accomplissement des activités d'évaluation des besoins. Le guide d'évaluation des besoins ainsi que des renseignements généraux sur le projet d'élaboration du guide sont disponibles en ligne à l'adresse suivante : http://web.uvic.ca/cyc/nat

Thriving despite Parental Physical Abuse in Adolescence: A Two-Wave Latent Transition Analysis on Hedonic and Eudaimonic Violence-Resilience Outcome Indicators

Internationally, about 25% of all children experience physical abuse by their parents. Despite the numerous odds against them, about 30% of adolescents who have experienced even the most serious forms of physical abuse by their parents escape the vicious family violence cycle. In this study, we analyzed longitudinally the data from a sample of N = 1767 seventh-grade high school students in Switzerland on physical abuse by their parents. We did this by conducting an online questionnaire twice within the school year. We found that in our sample, about 30% of the participating adolescents’ parents had physically abused them. We considered violence resilience a multi-systemic construct that included the absence of psychopathology on one hand and both forms of well-being (psychological and subjective) on the other. Our latent construct included both feeling good (hedonic indicators, such as high levels of self-esteem and low levels of depression/anxiety and dissociation) and doing well (eudaimonic indicators, such as high levels of self-determination and self-efficacy as well as low levels of aggression toward peers). By applying a person-oriented analytical approach via latent transition analysis with a sub-sample of students who experienced physical abuse (nw2 = 523), we identified and compared longitudinally four distinct violence-resilience patterns and their respective trajectories. By applying to the field of resilience, one of the most compelling insights of well-being research (Deci & Ryan, 2001), we identified violence resilience as a complex, multidimensional latent construct that concerns hedonic and eudaimonic well-being and is not solely based on terms of psychopathology