Suicidal behavior and sexual/physical abuse among street youth

Running head : SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR

Suicidal Behavior and Sexual /Physical

Abuse among Street Youth : An Article Critique

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Suicidal behavior and sexual /physical abuse among street youth : An article critique

Molnar and colleagues (1998 ) conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study of homeless youth to investigate the relationship between past abuse and subsequent suicide attempts . This hidden population , known as street youth , has been notoriously difficult to research due to their transitional living arrangements and distrust for adults , especially service professionals . Through creative recruitment strategies and

a monetary incentive , this study was able to assess 775 adolescents ranging in age from 12 to 19 years of age . Street were sampled from several large urban communities , including New York , San Francisco , and Denver . Participants were asked a series of questions related to abuse and suicidal behaviors . Interviewers were trained to respond to answers with nonjudgmental reactions to encourage the open disclosure of personal and painful information without the fear of stigmatization

A large proportion of the street youth reported prior maltreatment Approximately 70 of girls identified themselves as victims of sexual abuse with 35 reporting physical abuse . Thirty-five percent of males also reported physical abuse with 24 disclosing their past involved sexual abuse . As predicted by the researchers involved in this study the maltreatment of youth often results in later behavioral disturbances . The results of this study indicated an alarming correlation between prior abuse and the likelihood that a youth would attempt suicide , often multiple times . Street youth that reported previous sexual and /or physical abuse were 1 .9 to 4 .3 times more likely to attempt suicide than other homeless teens that did not report abuse Once a participant had attempted suicide it was likely there would be multiple attempts . The mean number of self-injurious acts for females was 6 .2 with 5 .1 times the mean number for males surveyed in this study Considering the participants surveyed are obviously not members of the subgroup that complete suicide , these statistics should alarm professionals working to assist this vulnerable population

Article Critique

This study provides a window into the needs of a unique and desperate hidden group of adolescents . While exceptionally informative about the underlying consequences of child abuse , the design of the study by Molnar et al . has several limitations . A retrospective study relies on the memories of participants . Early childhood memories are often questioned when surveyed from a typical population , but street youth have additional characteristics that make their reports even more questionable . First , the exact reason many runaway teenagers leave their homes is unknown . Relying on their perspective may not garner a comprehensive picture of the home environment . Undoubtedly most (if not all ) of the participants who reported abuse were the unfortunate victims of these horrible experiences , but even the memory of these youths may falter . The high prevalence of drug abuse among street youth adds a further challenge to the use of survey questions that rely on memories of events that may have occurred decades...