Attachment, psychological functioning, and resilience within the street involved youth populations: describing youth who access community agency support
Youth homelessness is defined within the literature as youth who have left their homes and are living independent of parental figures and/or caregivers, have no stable residence or source of income, and lack access to the supports needed to make the challenging transition into adulthood (Canadian Ob...
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ftmemorialuniv:oai:research.library.mun.ca:11895 2023-10-01T03:57:38+02:00 Attachment, psychological functioning, and resilience within the street involved youth populations: describing youth who access community agency support Patterson, Heather M. 2016-05 application/pdf https://research.library.mun.ca/11895/ https://research.library.mun.ca/11895/1/thesis.pdf en eng Memorial University of Newfoundland https://research.library.mun.ca/11895/1/thesis.pdf Patterson, Heather M. <https://research.library.mun.ca/view/creator_az/Patterson=3AHeather_M=2E=3A=3A.html> (2016) Attachment, psychological functioning, and resilience within the street involved youth populations: describing youth who access community agency support. Doctoral (PhD) thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland. thesis_license Thesis NonPeerReviewed 2016 ftmemorialuniv 2023-09-03T06:48:31Z Youth homelessness is defined within the literature as youth who have left their homes and are living independent of parental figures and/or caregivers, have no stable residence or source of income, and lack access to the supports needed to make the challenging transition into adulthood (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, 2015). Previous research studying homeless (or street-involved) youth has primarily focused on risk factors hindering the development of this population, and has largely ignored resilience, coping, and help-seeking behaviours. The current study examined the attachment styles (both categorically and dimensionally), psychological functioning, resilience, and help-seeking behaviours in street-involved youth of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Face-to face interviews were completed over a four-month period with 63 youth (42 males, 21 females) aged 15-29 (Mage = 20.00), recruited from a local community organization providing outreach services to street-involved youth. Results revealed the disproportionate struggles of the street-involved youth population, and highlighted higher levels of attachment insecurity, psychological distress and lower resilience compared to normative peers. Findings also showed a significant difference in psychological functioning, overall resilience, and emotional reactivity based on individual attachment style. In an exploratory model of help-seeking, a positive relationship was found between overall resilience (defined as a sense of mastery and sense of relatedness) and frequency of community service access. However, contrary to predictions, no relationships were found between frequency of community service access and attachment, psychological functioning, or emotional reactivity. Implications of the present findings in development of interventions for street-involved youth are discussed, in addition to strengths and limitations of the present research, and suggested areas of future inquiry. Thesis Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland: Research Repository |
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Memorial University of Newfoundland: Research Repository |
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Youth homelessness is defined within the literature as youth who have left their homes and are living independent of parental figures and/or caregivers, have no stable residence or source of income, and lack access to the supports needed to make the challenging transition into adulthood (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, 2015). Previous research studying homeless (or street-involved) youth has primarily focused on risk factors hindering the development of this population, and has largely ignored resilience, coping, and help-seeking behaviours. The current study examined the attachment styles (both categorically and dimensionally), psychological functioning, resilience, and help-seeking behaviours in street-involved youth of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Face-to face interviews were completed over a four-month period with 63 youth (42 males, 21 females) aged 15-29 (Mage = 20.00), recruited from a local community organization providing outreach services to street-involved youth. Results revealed the disproportionate struggles of the street-involved youth population, and highlighted higher levels of attachment insecurity, psychological distress and lower resilience compared to normative peers. Findings also showed a significant difference in psychological functioning, overall resilience, and emotional reactivity based on individual attachment style. In an exploratory model of help-seeking, a positive relationship was found between overall resilience (defined as a sense of mastery and sense of relatedness) and frequency of community service access. However, contrary to predictions, no relationships were found between frequency of community service access and attachment, psychological functioning, or emotional reactivity. Implications of the present findings in development of interventions for street-involved youth are discussed, in addition to strengths and limitations of the present research, and suggested areas of future inquiry. |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Patterson, Heather M. |
spellingShingle |
Patterson, Heather M. Attachment, psychological functioning, and resilience within the street involved youth populations: describing youth who access community agency support |
author_facet |
Patterson, Heather M. |
author_sort |
Patterson, Heather M. |
title |
Attachment, psychological functioning, and resilience within the street involved youth populations: describing youth who access community agency support |
title_short |
Attachment, psychological functioning, and resilience within the street involved youth populations: describing youth who access community agency support |
title_full |
Attachment, psychological functioning, and resilience within the street involved youth populations: describing youth who access community agency support |
title_fullStr |
Attachment, psychological functioning, and resilience within the street involved youth populations: describing youth who access community agency support |
title_full_unstemmed |
Attachment, psychological functioning, and resilience within the street involved youth populations: describing youth who access community agency support |
title_sort |
attachment, psychological functioning, and resilience within the street involved youth populations: describing youth who access community agency support |
publisher |
Memorial University of Newfoundland |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://research.library.mun.ca/11895/ https://research.library.mun.ca/11895/1/thesis.pdf |
genre |
Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland |
op_relation |
https://research.library.mun.ca/11895/1/thesis.pdf Patterson, Heather M. <https://research.library.mun.ca/view/creator_az/Patterson=3AHeather_M=2E=3A=3A.html> (2016) Attachment, psychological functioning, and resilience within the street involved youth populations: describing youth who access community agency support. Doctoral (PhD) thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland. |
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thesis_license |
_version_ |
1778529491714310144 |