Discrimination and exiting homelessness among homeless adolescents

This article examines how newly homeless adolescents' discrimination experiences were associated with exiting homelessness after 6 months. A sample of 262 homeless adolescents, aged 12 to 20 years, were recruited and followed longitudinally (6-month retention rate = 88%). Discrimination was related to being gay, lesbian, or bisexual (LGB). Discrimination from family was related to exiting homelessness. Other than those who were LGB, adolescents who reported discrimination from their families were more likely to exit homelessness than adolescents who did not report such discrimination. Suggestions for future research include focusing on the experiences of LGB homeless adolescents, the role of families in the lives of homeless adolescents, and other aspects of discrimination, including salience, frequency, intensity, and duration.     

Cross-National Variations in Behavioral Profiles Among Homeless Youth

Cross-national comparisons of homeless youth in Melbourne, Australia, and Los Angeles, CA, United States were conducted. Newly (n = 427) and experienced (n = 864) homeless youth were recruited from each site. Compared to Australia, homeless youth in the United States were younger, more likely to be in school or jail, demonstrated fewer sexual and substance use risk acts, fewer suicidal acts, and reported less need for social services. Across sites, experienced homeless youth were more likely to be older, male, engage in sexual and substance use, report greater need for social services, and make greater use of work, substance use, and health-related services. Homeless youth have different behavioral profiles in Australia and the United States, reflecting differences in the effectiveness of service systems in the two countries in keeping youth with fewer problems out of homelessness.     

Pathways of Risk and Resilience: Impact of a Family Resilience Program on Active‐Duty Military Parents

Over the past decade, studies into the impact of wartime deployment and related adversities on service members and their families have offered empirical support for systemic models of family functioning and a more nuanced understanding of the mechanisms by which stress and trauma reverberate across family and partner relationships. They have also advanced our understanding of the ways in which families may contribute to the resilience of children and parents contending with the stressors of serial deployments and parental physical and psychological injuries. This study is the latest in a series designed to further clarify the systemic functioning of military families and to explicate the role of resilient family processes in reducing symptoms of distress and poor adaptation among family members. Drawing upon the implementation of the Families Overcoming Under Stress (FOCUS) Family Resilience Program at 14 active‐duty military installations across the United States, structural equation modeling was conducted with data from 434 marine and navy active‐duty families who participated in the FOCUS program. The goal was to better understand the ways in which parental distress reverberates across military family systems and, through longitudinal path analytic modeling, determine the pathways of program impact on parental distress. The findings indicated significant cross‐influence of distress between the military and civilian parents within families, families with more distressed military parents were more likely to sustain participation in the program, and reductions in distress among both military and civilian parents were significantly mediated by improvements in resilient family processes. These results are consistent with family systemic and resilient models that support preventive interventions designed to enhance family resilient processes as an important part of comprehensive services for distressed military families.     

Adolescents in Wartime US Military Families: A Developmental Perspective on Challenges and Resources

Adolescents in wartime US military families are a unique group of young people who are experiencing the usual milestones of adolescent development, including establishing their identities and becoming autonomous, while they face the challenges of military life such as multiple frequent moves, relocation, and parent deployment to combat settings. This paper reviews research on adolescents in wartime US military families, within the context of adolescent development, to identify their behavioral, emotional and academic risk status, and challenges and resources. Recommendations for future research and interventions to foster the healthy development of these adolescents are also provided.     

Illness and Satisfaction With Medical Care

Patients who have worse physical or mental health are less satisfied with their medical care than patients in better health. This article describes research that explores the causal underpinnings of this correlation. Does poor health cause dissatisfaction, or does dissatisfaction cause poor health? And is the dissatisfaction of sicker patients attributable to their own state of mind, or rather to how they are treated by their doctors? It appears that, predominantly, dissatisfaction follows from poorer health rather than vice versa, and moreover that sicker patients' negative outlook is a pervasive cause of their lower satisfaction. However, there is also evidence that physicians' reactions to sicker patients, in the form of curtailed social conversation, also play a role in the reduced satisfaction of these patients.