Running

Head: IMPORTANCE
ON
HOMELESS CHILDREN
IMPORTANCE
OF STABILITYOF
ONSTABILITY
HOMELESS
CHILDREN

Importance of Stability on Children Living in Poverty

Rebecca A. McCallister
James Madison University

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Abstract
Homeless youths are faced with many difficulties that can impair all areas of their daily functioning including health, academics, behavior, social skills and emotional issues. Due to a lack of
stability, a support network is often left behind and there is difficulty reaching out to others afterwards. Stability has been found to be a major part of the success of a child who has been affected by homelessness. A way this can be attained is through mentor programs that incorporate
non-parental adults who build a relationship with the child in order to assist with their development in any way possible. It is crucial that the mentors are of high quality and possess personality traits critical to building trust with the child such as patience and genuineness. Another factor
that can help with the positive development of the adolescent is to incorporate hands-on art activities that can be therapeutic for the child as a way to express themselves. This paper details different problems and setbacks faced by a child living in homelessness and potential solutions to
encourage stability and a support network for the individual affected.
Keywords: homelessness, youth, stability, mentor, support

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Poverty and homelessness affects millions of people in America everyday, but often the
implications of living below ones means gets forgotten. Children are more likely to have behavioral issues, malnutrition, emotional problems and cognitive deficits due to the stress of poverty.
These issues are seen both in the school system and at home as well. Many times, the parents are
so focused on providing for the basic needs of their kids that they are busy working or simply
finding ways to survive and forget that their child needs attention and love as well. This can be
very detrimental to the development of an individual and impair their social skills too.
School usually becomes the last concern a child has when they are living in poverty or
even homelessness. The focus is on finding a place to stay, eating any food that is available and
seeking out any type of a support system. Doing a math assignment or reading for 20 minutes is
never what is at the top of a childs mind when they return back home to a chaotic living situation. Sadly, the school system still expects the homework to be completed and good grades to be
made by all of the children. The kids often do not have any help from their parents when it
comes to schoolwork due to all of the additional stressors the parents are dealing with. This can
lead to frustration and feelings of worthlessness if a student does not understand the material and
then starts to receive failing grades. After repeatedly failing and not receiving any extra help, a
student may give up trying to learn the material and start to develop behavioral issues as a way to
act out for attention that they are not receiving elsewhere. All of these factors negatively play
into the way a child sees the world and develops their attitudes and behaviors. Unfortunately,
homelessness is a recurrent cycle and poverty can be very hard to recover from. However, there
are other ways that children who are affected by such adverse circumstances can be reached out

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to and helped. A possible solution is by providing more structure and stability to those who are
living such unstable and ever-changing lives.
Impacts of living in poverty
As stated earlier, there are many negative side effects to living in poverty that encompass
all aspects of an individuals well-being. Rafferty & Shinn (1991) discuss the adverse effects
homelessness has on a childs health, nutrition, development, emotional state and education. Due
to homelessness being a recurrent cycle, pregnant mothers are sometimes living on the streets
and not receiving enough nutrition or adequate prenatal care for their baby. This starts a child off
on the wrong path and can even lead to low birth weight for a baby or worse yet, infant mortality
(Rafferty & Shinn,1991). The poor health effects of homelessness continue on into a childs life.
The most common illnesses found among homeless individuals are upper respiratory infection,
minor skin ailments and ear disorders, all of which impact the acceptance from others and daily
functioning of the individual (Rafferty & Shinn, 1991). The lack of nutrients in the food a child
living in poverty manages to eat can lead to many developmental issues as well. Growth is often
stunted in children growing up without receiving adequate nutrition during the critical time periods as well as speech and learning problems (Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997). These other factors can play a part into how a child performs in the school setting.
Academic effects of homelessness
Having an unstable home life filled with numerous stressors can make school work seem
like a last priority. Parents are often so preoccupied with their own problems that they forget their
children may need assistance with homework or they may not be mentally capable themselves to
help out. Poor attendance can also be a factor as to why children living in poverty tend to have

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lower academic performance than those in a stable home environment. Between 15%-30% of
homeless children do not attend school regularly (Rafferty & Shinn, 1991).
In a study done by Zima, Wells & Freeman (1994), reading skills and receptive vocabulary were measured among 169 school aged children living in emergency homeless shelters in
Los Angeles County. Sadly, the results showed that homeless children were four times more
likely to score at or below the 10th percentile in receptive vocabulary and reading than children
of similar age in the general population (Zima, Wells & Freeman, 1994). These results are startling and show a marked decrease in the learning environment of those who are underprivileged.
Rubin et al. (1996) conducted a study that looked at both cognitive abilities and academic
achievement in both housed children and homeless children. As hypothesized, the cognitive levels did not have a significant difference between the two groups. This means that both children
living with homelessness and those living without had about the same average intelligence capabilities. However, the results did show that homeless children performed significantly worse than
housed children on the academic measures. Reading, spelling and math were all tested using the
Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised (WRAT-R). Sadly, there was a significant difference between housed children and homeless children in all areas with reading being the area most impaired (Rubin et al., 1994). This is thought to be due to school changes and the number of times a
child has had to repeat a certain grade level (Rubin et al., 1994). Having to repeat grade levels
can impact a student socially too by being at different social, emotional and maturity levels than
classmates. Students who are older than their classmates due to having to repeat numerous grade
levels are more likely to drop out of school, get involved with crime and have a lower self-esteem (Rafferty & Shinn, 1991). Obviously, with all of the other factors that play into homeless-

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ness, poor performance on academics is not due to intelligence capability, but rather due to the
environment and stressors a child is subjected to in their living situation.
Behavioral effects of homelessness
Children who live in poverty or homelessness often do not receive as much attention and
love at home as they would like. This is not due to their parent not caring about them or being
neglectful, but rather due to the parent working long hours to try to make enough money to provide for the family or being so tired from working that they do not have the energy to be as
present for their children as needed. As a way to seek out attention, children often act out at
school or cause disruptions in the classroom setting. Between 28%-32% of school-aged children
living in homeless shelter have behavioral problems (Zima et al., 1999).
In a study done by Masten, Militias, Graham-Bermann, Ramirez & Neemann (1993),
child behavior problems were significantly higher in the homeless population tested than the
general population, specifically when it came to antisocial personality disorder. However, when
the homeless population was compared to low income children, there was no significant difference in behavior problems. After comparing more results, it was concluded that the primary
predictors of behavior problems are parental distress, cumulative risk history, and recent life
events, rather than housing status (Masten et al., 1993). This could be the reasoning behind why
there was a significant difference between the homeless population and general population due to
disadvantageous life circumstances rather than only housing.
Although externalizing behavior problems have been seen more often in homeless children than the general population, internalizing behavior problems are also a major concern. Internalizing behavior problems consist of depression, anxiety and withdrawal from others. In a

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study done by Zima et al. (1999), children living in homelessness are at a much higher rate of
being exposure to stressful or traumatic situations. A startling 48% of the children in the study
had been exposed to violent situations such as stabbings, rapes, shootings and physical assaults
(Zima et al.,1999). Although the majority of children screened did not fit the criteria for psychopathology, a large number had symptoms of depression and anxiety which could continue on
into their lives as they age and have a major impact on their functioning (Zima et al.,1999).
Academic performance and behavioral issues among children are just two of many domains of life that are negatively impacted by homelessness. These are mostly due to the lack of
close involvement from parental figures, instability in housing, switching schools and being exposed to violent or traumatic life events. The remainder of this paper will be focusing on the
need for stability in a childs life and the positive effects that can come from predictability of
both home and school settings.
Need for stability
In a classic study done by Pavlov (1941), experimental neurosis was discovered. This occurs when the two stimuli that predict different consequences become very difficult to discriminate between. This lack of discrimination leads to a decrease in predictability and therefore led
the dogs to become very neurotic (Pavlov, 1941). Pavlov (1941) generalized this to people and
hypothesized that people like predictability and a lack of it can lead to possible personality disorders, behavioral issues and other problems.
Sadly, school-aged children depend on predictability more so than any other age bracket
and those living in poverty, but especially those living with homelessness, have very little in their
lives that is predictable. This sense of instability can really disrupt a childs life and cause many

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of the issues already mentioned. There are rarely any places or people who have stayed in their
lives consistently and this leads them to retaliate against these disruptions. Children who are living in stable homes do not have the stressors of finding a warm place to stay at night, searching
for a meal to eat or helping to raise younger siblings all on their own. These children are advantaged and have predictable aspects of their home life which allows for them to have more time to
devote to their studies and develop coping strategies for their other issues rather than developing
behavioral problems. By living in a stable environment, a support system is more readily available and consists of the same people their whole lives. This is not the case for those who are
homeless. These children are constantly being uprooted from different areas and having to leave
behind friends and family members that had become their support system to help during difficult
times. This leads to even more instability by not having the same people to rely on and constantly having to open up to others and attempt to develop new relationships with peers. Stability is a
crucial part of a healthy development in a child.
In a study done by Schmitz, Wagner and Menke (1995), the instability of housing situations was measured and compared to problem behaviors and social support. As expected, the
higher the frequency of the number of times a family had moved, the higher the likelihood of behavioral problems (Schmitz, Wagner & Menke, 1995). This is due to the constant resettling in a
new area and having connections cut off with many of the people from previous locations that
could have been a part of a support network. On the flip side, those that have lived at a residence
for a longer amount of time were seen to have a stronger sense of self and stronger support system (Schmitz, Wagner & Menke, 1995). It was also stated in the study that the instability of
homelessness increased levels of anxiety in the children studied due to feeling as if there was a

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lack of security and safety (Schmitz, Wagner & Menke, 1995). These results were not surprising,
but do provide evidence for the hypothesis that stability in a childs life leads to better overall
outcomes.
As an attempt to provide more stability in the childrens lives at Mercy House, an after
school tutoring program has been running thanks to the help of volunteers from James Madison
University and Eastern Mennonite University.
Effective aspects of mentoring programs
In an attempt to learn how to better the tutoring program at Mercy House, research has
been done looking into potential ways to make improvements and different parts of other programs that have been effective. It is important to ensure the kids are receiving the best care and
most impactful services while living in a homeless shelter to hopefully help counteract some of
the more negative impacts homelessness may have on a child.
Mercy Houses after school program previously has mainly focused on assisting the kids
with their homework and reading skills. The goal is to help provide one on one help with studies
to improve grades and confidence in schooling. In a study done by King, Vidourek, Davis and
McClellan (2002), Healthy Kids Mentoring Program was designed to increase students self esteem and connectedness, however, it also improved academic performance as a positive side effect. Of the 28 students involved in the program, 20 of them increased their academic letter
grades (King, Vidourek, Davis & McClellan, 2002). This improvement in grades has been associated with a higher sense of self esteem and feeling more connected both to peers and the school
itself through building a positive relationship with the mentor and learning effective communication skills (King et al., 2002).

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Characteristics that deepened the relationship between a mentor and child were discussed
in another article by Ahrens et al. (2011). This study looked at non-parental adult relationships
with youth coming out of the foster care system and found themes among the initial connection,
ongoing relationship, developmental impacts and the support provided by the mentor. Some
overarching qualities of the initial connection involve patience with the child, respect, and being
authentic with the individual (Ahrens et al., 2011). Consistency and expectations of the relationship were huge factors that played into the childs trust of the non-parental adult (Ahrens et al.,
2011). Lastly, participants in the study reported that their mentors helped to provide them with a
stronger sense of self and both social and emotional support throughout their lives (Ahrens et al.,
2011). Although Mercy Houses volunteers are not life-long mentors for these children, they still
strive to attain all of these characteristics to provide the most supportive and safe environment
for the children.
Lastly, in a study done by Prescott, Sekendur, Bailey and Hoshino (2008) the effect of art
making on homeless youth was researched. It was found that those youth who attended the art
center frequently also reported higher life achievements such as ending drug usage, finding housing, engaging in academics and becoming employed (Prescott, Sekendur, Bailey & Hoshino,
2008). As part of the qualitative research conducted using interviews, art was said to be a savior
and a safe place where the homeless youth could express their emotions openly (Prescott et al.,
2008). Art has been said to have many therapeutic effects that can enhance personal growth as
well. This was also backed up by evidence in the study that one adolescent interviewed stated
that I use art to reflect on myself and my problems and another adolescent who implied that art

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increased her self esteem due to never giving up and producing something she was proud to
show to others (Prescott et al., 2011).
As my contribution project, I have created a different arts and craft activity for the tutors
to lead the children in for every day of the month from August through May. The research has
shown that art therapy can be an effective way to relax while also being able to dig below the
surface for those children who may be a little more difficult to reach. The crafts range from
painting a holiday themed scene to making chocolate covered strawberries. The importance of
hands-on activities enhances a childs sense of independence and self-esteem by feeling as if
there is a purpose. I have made every effort possible to ensure the volunteers maintain the qualities stated above such as patience, respect and effective communication skills with both the other
volunteers and the children. It is very important that the volunteers are consistent and can help
provide a sense of stability and support for the children.
Conclusion
Homelessness largely impacts the development of a child due to the exposure to more
stressful situations, constant uprooting, instability of a support network and lack of proper medical care and nutrients in diet. These all contribute to poor academic performance which can lead
to a negative sense of self, behavioral issues and withdrawal from peers. Unfortunately, due to
the repeated moving from one location to another, the children affected by homelessness often
fly under the radar and are seen as problem children rather than disadvantaged youth. This is why
the importance of a mentoring or tutoring program would be very beneficial to the children affected. The mentors would not only be able to communicate the needs of the child more effec-

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tively to both the parents and teachers, but also would provide a safe place for the child to open
up and confide in a non-parental adult who can provide support.
Taking from the research, crucial aspects of a mentor program need to be addressed. The
mentors should be selectively accepted and need to possess caring traits that look out for the
childs best interest rather than forcing a relationship immediately. It is important for the volunteer to remember that there have most likely been previous trust issues and the child needs to feel
ready to open up to the volunteer rather than feeling forced to. Art has been incorporated into the
program at Mercy House as a way for the kids to openly express themselves while also engaging
in a fun and productive activity everyday after school. This support system in the after-school
program provides for supervision of the child, enhanced communication skills and a way for the
children to learn that there are others out there who care about them. Stability is a vital need in a
childs life and if this need cannot necessarily be met at all times during homelessness, it should
be a large factor of the stay while in a homeless shelter to enhance further success in life afterwards.

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