Adolescent development articles
Osgood, Foster, & Courtney: Vulnerable populations and the transition to adulthood.
Vulnerable populations:
- Mental health system
- Foster care system
- Juvenile justice system
- Criminal justice system
- Special education
- Healthcare system
- Runaway and homeless youth.
Foster care and the juvenile justice system are custodial systems.
Reaching the age of 18 or 21 may end eligibility for services while most
people their age continue to depend on others and need support and
training. Furthermore, some of these vulnerable youth must accomplish
tasks that other youth don’t face. Some of these populations also have
limited ability to perform everyday tasks. Because public support systems
for vulnerable youth have been designed around categorical eligibility
criteria, no one system is responsible for meeting the entire range of
needs of the young people it serves, and each system uses its own
eligibility criteria to engage in a process of gate-keeping that can deny
youth access to services.
Males, poor youth and youth of color are overrepresented in every group.
Youth in every group vary widely as to the seriousness and type of
problem or need. Youth with different problems require different resources.
Youth also differ in the age at which their vulnerability rises, a variation
that has implications for how long they are involved with a particular
system.
Populations overlap; members of one group often belong to another group
as well. Another source of overlap is that one system may exacerbate
other problems thereby leading to contact with other systems. Regardless
of the service system in which these youths find themselves, many
experience poor outcomes across domains that mark the transition to
adulthood.
Factors contributing to success are:
- Success at school
- Support from family and friends
- Certain personality characteristics, such as persistence and
confidence.
Problems in four areas of public policies:
1. The eligibility criteria exclude youth from services that might benefit
them.
2. Funding for transition services is inadequate.
, 3. Lack of coordination across service systems hampers appropriate
service delivery.
4. Many service professionals lack training in developmental issues for
young adults.
Policy options:
1. The first option embraces steps that would help all youth with the
transition from childhood to adulthood.
2. Improving systems of care for children and adolescents
3. Addressing the loss of access to services at the age of majority
4. Coordinating today’s multiple systems into a coherent whole
5. Shift to a family focus
Rice, Monro, Barman-Adhikari & Young – Internet use, social networking and
HIV/AIDS risk for homeless adolescents.
This study examines the frequency of internet use, means accessing the
internet and with whom homeless adolescents connect online. Moreover,
they assessed how technology use is associated with engaging in
exchange sex, recent HIV-testing and online partner seeking behaviors.
Sexual health behavior of homeless adolescents was significantly
associated with the kind of social relationships they were maintaining
online. Connections to home were associated with reductions in risk,
whereas connections to street were associated with increased risk.
Rice & Barman-Adhikari – Internet and social media use as a resource among homeless
youth.
This article examines the wide-ranging ways in which homeless youth use
the internet and social media, the social context of their use and how it
might facilitate connections to positive relationships and online resource
seeking.
Homeless youth used the internet to obtain information, fulfill recreation
and entertainment needs and to socialize. They prefer email when
communicating with non-peers and social media to communicate with
home-based peers and non-immediate family.
Housing and employment are critical resources.
Krabbenberg, Boersma & Wolf – A strengths based method for homeless youth:
Effectiveness and fidelity of houvast.
The main aim of Houvast is to improve the quality of life of homeless
youths by focusing on their strengths and stimulating their capacity for
autonomy and self-reliance. Houvast is based on the strengths model. This
Osgood, Foster, & Courtney: Vulnerable populations and the transition to adulthood.
Vulnerable populations:
- Mental health system
- Foster care system
- Juvenile justice system
- Criminal justice system
- Special education
- Healthcare system
- Runaway and homeless youth.
Foster care and the juvenile justice system are custodial systems.
Reaching the age of 18 or 21 may end eligibility for services while most
people their age continue to depend on others and need support and
training. Furthermore, some of these vulnerable youth must accomplish
tasks that other youth don’t face. Some of these populations also have
limited ability to perform everyday tasks. Because public support systems
for vulnerable youth have been designed around categorical eligibility
criteria, no one system is responsible for meeting the entire range of
needs of the young people it serves, and each system uses its own
eligibility criteria to engage in a process of gate-keeping that can deny
youth access to services.
Males, poor youth and youth of color are overrepresented in every group.
Youth in every group vary widely as to the seriousness and type of
problem or need. Youth with different problems require different resources.
Youth also differ in the age at which their vulnerability rises, a variation
that has implications for how long they are involved with a particular
system.
Populations overlap; members of one group often belong to another group
as well. Another source of overlap is that one system may exacerbate
other problems thereby leading to contact with other systems. Regardless
of the service system in which these youths find themselves, many
experience poor outcomes across domains that mark the transition to
adulthood.
Factors contributing to success are:
- Success at school
- Support from family and friends
- Certain personality characteristics, such as persistence and
confidence.
Problems in four areas of public policies:
1. The eligibility criteria exclude youth from services that might benefit
them.
2. Funding for transition services is inadequate.
, 3. Lack of coordination across service systems hampers appropriate
service delivery.
4. Many service professionals lack training in developmental issues for
young adults.
Policy options:
1. The first option embraces steps that would help all youth with the
transition from childhood to adulthood.
2. Improving systems of care for children and adolescents
3. Addressing the loss of access to services at the age of majority
4. Coordinating today’s multiple systems into a coherent whole
5. Shift to a family focus
Rice, Monro, Barman-Adhikari & Young – Internet use, social networking and
HIV/AIDS risk for homeless adolescents.
This study examines the frequency of internet use, means accessing the
internet and with whom homeless adolescents connect online. Moreover,
they assessed how technology use is associated with engaging in
exchange sex, recent HIV-testing and online partner seeking behaviors.
Sexual health behavior of homeless adolescents was significantly
associated with the kind of social relationships they were maintaining
online. Connections to home were associated with reductions in risk,
whereas connections to street were associated with increased risk.
Rice & Barman-Adhikari – Internet and social media use as a resource among homeless
youth.
This article examines the wide-ranging ways in which homeless youth use
the internet and social media, the social context of their use and how it
might facilitate connections to positive relationships and online resource
seeking.
Homeless youth used the internet to obtain information, fulfill recreation
and entertainment needs and to socialize. They prefer email when
communicating with non-peers and social media to communicate with
home-based peers and non-immediate family.
Housing and employment are critical resources.
Krabbenberg, Boersma & Wolf – A strengths based method for homeless youth:
Effectiveness and fidelity of houvast.
The main aim of Houvast is to improve the quality of life of homeless
youths by focusing on their strengths and stimulating their capacity for
autonomy and self-reliance. Houvast is based on the strengths model. This
